TRUE  CHRISTIAN.TRUE 
CHURCH.TRUE  TEACHINGS 

ALBERT    TORBET 


1917  RARV  OF  RELIGIOUS  THOUGiJT 


EB  14  1918 


BV  4510  .T57^1917 
Torbert,  Albert. 
True  Christian,  true  church, 
true  teachings,  seven 


To 


FEB  14  191! 


;■;!  «■ 


TRUE    CHRISTIAN,    TRUE 
CHURCH,  TRUE  TEACHINGS 


SEVEN  MESSAGES 


BY^ 


ALBERT  TORBET 


ARTIetVeRITAnI 


BOSTON:    THE  GORHAM  PRESS 

TORONTO:  THE  COPP  CLARK  CO.,   LIMITED 


Copyright,    1917,    by   Albert   Torbet 


All  Rights  Reserved 


MADE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 
The  Gorham  Press,  Boston,  U.   S.  A, 


PREFACE 

The  chapters  of  this  little  book  deal  with  questions 
which  perplex  some  people;  and  if  they  seem  theoretical, 
let  it  be  remembered  that  ideas  are  the  only  real  rulers: 
and  Jesus  said,  "The  truth  shall  make  you  free." 

It  is  intended  as  a  small  contribution  toward  helping 
the  world  to  see  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Way,  the  Truth, 
and  the  Life. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

I     The  True  Christian 9 

II     The  True  Church i6 

III  The  Parable  of  the  Father's  Love 25 

IV  Godh'ness  Profitable 33 

V     The  Unruly  Boy  and  His  Father 41 

V"I     Sense  vs.  Nonsense 47 

VII     The  Great  Memorial  Supper 57 


True  Christian,  True  Church, 

True  Teachings 

I 

The  True  Christian 

"Except  one  be  born  of  luater  and  the  Spirit,  he  cannot 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven/'     (John  3:5)- 

HUNDREDS  of  thousands  of  sermons  have  been 
preached  from  this  text — very  far  from  its  simple 
truth  many  of  them  have  been.  Some  congregations  have 
been  told  that  unless  they  be  baptized  by  immersion  into 
WATER  they  could  not  GO  to  heaven  at  death. 

In  his  book  The  Faith  of  Our  Fathers,  James  Cardinal 
Gibbons  says,  ''Baptism,  which  washes  away  original 
sin,  is  as  essential  for  the  infant  as  for  the  full  grown  man, 
in  order  to  attain  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Again  he 
says,  "The  church  declares  that  unbaptized  infants 
ARE  excluded  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Again  he 
says,  "If  your  child  is  deprived  of  heaven  by  being 
deprived  of  baptism,  God  does  it  no  wrong."  (Ps.  310 
and  312,  67th  Edition). 

According  to  this  a  marvelous  power  works  in  connec- 
tion with  a  few  drops  of  water  accompanied  by  a  few 
ceremonial  words!  It  washes  away  original  sin,  and 
without  this  ceremony  infants  are  deprived  of 
heaven!     This  beats  the  sorcerers  of  Ephesus,  the  en- 

9 


lO     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

chanters  of  Egypt,  and  the  fakers  of  India  sixteen  to  one. 
This  enslaving  of  the  minds  of  mothers  begins  at  the 
beginning  while  the  child  is  a  babe.  Think  of  the  hun- 
dreds OF  MILLIONS  of  babcs  that  without  any  fault  of 
their  own  have  been  "deprived  of  heaven"  by  being 
deprived  of  baptism!  To  me  this  seems  both  monstrously 
unchristian  and  silly  in  a  degree  unworthy  of  man- 
hood. 

How  opposed  to  such  words  are  the  teachings  of  Jesus 
Christ  who  said,  "Except  ye  turn  and  become  as  little 
CHILDREN,  ye  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  (Matt.  18:3).  "Suffer  the  little  children, 
and  forbid  them  not,  to  come  unto  me;  for  to  such  be- 
longeth  the  kingdom  of  heaven."     (Matt.  19:14). 

Many  of  the  erroneous  misinterpretations  of  the  words 
of  Jesus  have  been  made  because  of  misunderstanding  what 
he  meant  by  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  the  king- 
dom OF  GOD  of  which  he  spoke  scores  of  times,  the  king- 
dom teachings  being  among  his  chief  themes  of  discourses 
and  conversations. 

His  forerunner  John  Baptist  came  heralding  the  good 
news  that  "the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand." 
(Matt.  3:2).  And  being  well  versed  in  their  Jewish 
scriptures,  the  people  no  doubt  understood  him  to  proclaim 
that  the  prophesy  of  Daniel  2  144  was  about  to  be  fulfilled 
which  says,  "In  the  days  of  those  kings  shall  the  God  of 
heaven  set  up  a  kingdom  which  shall  never  be  destroyed." 
Other  prophets  had  spoke  similarly.  Early  in  his  ministry 
Jesus  said,  "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand." 
(Matt.  4:17). 

And  to  aid  them  to  understand  more  about  the  king- 


Scveji  Messages  II 

DOM  which  he  came  to  establish  upon  earth  he  said,  "The 
KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN  IS  LIKENED  UNTO  a  man  that  sowed 
good  seed  in  his  field."  (Matt.  13:24).  "The  kingdom 
OF  heaven  is  like  unto  a  grain  of  mustard  seed."  (Matt. 
13:31).  "The  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN  is  like  unto  leaven." 
(Matt.  13:33).  "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto 
a  treasure  hidden  in  the  field."  (Matt.  13:44).  "The 
KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN  is  like  unto  a  net  that  was  cast  into 
the  sea."  (Matt.  13:47).  "The  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  likened  unto  a  certain  king  who  made  a  marriage  feast 
for  his  son."  (Matt.  22  :2).  And  he  compared  it  to  many 
other  things  in  his  parables;  but  anyone  ought  to  be  able 
to  see  that  he  did  not  mean  that  heaven  is  like  these 
things. 

If  he  be  not  binded  by  prejudice  even  the  most  super- 
ficial reader  can  see  that  by  the  phrases  kingdom  of 
HEAVEN  and  kingdom  of  god  he  did  not  mean  heaven, 
but  that  he  meant  something  that  really  was  at  hand  or 
ABOUT  TO  BE  SET  UP  here  on  the  earth. 

Simply  to  have  been  born  of  Abraham's  seed  made  one 
a  citizen  of  God's  ancient  but  earthly  kingdom  of  the 
Jews  which  at  this  time  had  been  overthrown  by  the 
Romans.  But  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  kingdom  or 
SPIRITUAL  EMPIRE  which  Christ  came  to  establish  upon 
EARTH  and  in  the  hearts  of  men  one  must  repent  of 
his  evil  ways  and  reform  his  unclean  life;  and  the  out- 
ward sign  of  this  citizenship  was  water  baptism,  which 
of  itself  was  not  intended  to  do  one  any  good,  but  it  kept 
the  idea  of  cleanness  and  purity  of  heart  and  life 
always  before  the  people  as  essential  in  the  require- 
ments of  God. 


12     True  Christian^  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

The  enlightened  followers  of  Christ  understood  this  in 
its  application  to  themselves,  and  if  they  had  their  children 
baptized  it  was  not  to  secure  their  salvation  in  the  event 
of  their  death,  but  it  was  simply  the  sign  of  the  covenant 
they  made  with  God  that  they  would  bring  them  up 
in  the  clean  and  white  life  of  Christianity  instead  of  in 
the  careless  and  immoral  life  like  the  heathen  about  them. 

Even  this  outward  reformation  of  life  indicated  by 
water  baptism  could  not  cause  one  to  see  or  enter  into 
THE  KINGDOM  which  Christ  came  to  establish,  but  he  must 
be  "born  anew"  and  enlightened  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  population  of  Christ's  spiritual  kingdom  or  empire 
residing  in  all  parts  of  the  world  are  all  twice  born  people 
— born  of  the  flesh  into  the  common  life  of  man,  and  born 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  into  a  new  and  higher  life  of  fellow- 
ship with  God  and  his  people  such  as  was  especially  man- 
ifested on  the  day  of  Pentecost  and  in  the  primitive  church. 
(Acts  2). 

There  can  be  no  admission  into  this  spiritual  life  of 
union  with  Christ  and  his  people  by  any  material  cere- 
mony, but  all  must  be  born  anew  into  a  spiritual  life  of 
fitness  for  such  fellowship;  for  as  the  apostle  says,  "In 
one  Spirit  were  we  all  baptized  into  one  body."  ( I  Cor. 
12:13). 

The  apostle  Peter  speaking  of  this  and  of  the  way  to 
gain  this  glorious  new  life  says,  "Seeing  ye  have  purified 
your  souls  in  your  obedience  to  the  truth  unto  unfeigned 
love  of  the  brethren,  love  one  another  from  the  heart 
fervently:  having  been  begotten  again  (Born  Again — 
Douay  and  A.  V.),  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  in- 
corruptible,  THROUGH   THE   WORD   OF   GOD,   which   liveth 


Seven  Messages  13 

and  abideth."  (i  Peter  1:22-23).  The  living  word  of 
God  preached  or  read  is  the  common  means  used  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  to  awaken  people  from  the  death  in  sin  and 
give  them  the  new  life  (new  birth)  without  which  they 
cannot  see  or  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
or  the  fellowship  with  Christ  and  his  people,  any  more 
than  a  horse  can  enter  the  realm  of  the  botanist  or  of  the 
artist  and  enjoy  the  beauties  of  the  flower  garden  or  of 
the  art  museum,  (i  Cor.  2:14).  And  how  hard  it  is  for 
the  rich  people  to  rise  above  sordid  selfishness  and  enter 
this  loving  fellowship  with  God  and  man,  and  so  see  and 
be  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven!     (Mark  10:17-31). 

Have  you  not  been  surprised  that  Jesus  is  not  reported 
ever  to  have  spoken  to  any  one  except  to  Nicodemus  about 
the  necessity  of  the  "New  Birth,"  and  that  none  of  the 
gospel  writers  except  John  records  even  this  one  instance? 
On  many  occasions  and  to  many  persons,  however,  he 
spoke  of  the  same  thing  but  in  \try  different  language 
by  which  it  is  made  most  certain  that  he  did  not  mean 
water  baptism  but  reformation  of  life  and  illumina- 
tion of  the  soul. 

For  instance,  the  "new  birth"  or  changed  nature  which 
met  Christ's  approval  and  admitted  him  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  was  experienced  by  Zacchaeus  who  "stood, 
and  said  unto  the  Lord,  Behold,  Lord,  the  half  of  my 
goods  I  give  to  the  poor;  and  if  I  have  wrongfully  ex- 
acted ought  of  any  man,  I  restore  fourfold.  And  Jesus 
said    unto   him.    Today  ^  is    salvation    come    to   this 

house,  forasmuch  as  he  also  is  a  son  of  ABRAHAM." 

(Luke   19:8-9).     The  "new  birth"  was  experienced  by 
the  five  times  married  woman  who  was  living  with  a  man 


14     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

not  her  husband,  and  who  talked  with  Jesus  at  the  well 
near  Sychar,  and  she  hurried  away  to  the  village  and  wit- 
nessed for  Jesus  in  such  a  way  as  to  lead  to  a  great  work 
of  evangelizing.  (John  4:39-42).  This  same  experience 
of  a  changed  inner  and  outward  life  (new  birth)  came  to 
the  sinful  woman  whose  tears  of  penitence  fell  upon 
Jesus'  feet,  and  to  whom  he  said,  "Thy  faith  hath  saved 
thee;  go  in  peace."     (Luke  7  137-50). 

Such  as  these  have  the  baptism  of  repentance  of  which 
water  is  the  emblem,  and  they  have  an  insight  into  the 
things  of  the  Spiritual  life  which  is  the  fruit  of  the  bap- 
tism of  the  Spirit ;  and  of  such  Paul  wrote,  that  they  had 

BEEN  DELIVERED  OUT  OF  THE   POWER  OF  DARKNESS,   and 

had  been  translated  (carried  across)  into  the  kingdom 
OF  CHRIST.     (Col.  I  :i3). 

Everyone  who  believes  the  gospel  message  of  God's  love 
for  sinful  man  (John  3:16),  and  who  turns  from  all 
outward  and  inward  uncleanness  and  sin,  should  of  course 
confess  Christ  (Matt.  10:32-33)  and  be  baptized  (Matt. 
28  :i9) ,  thus  taking  his  place  among  Christ's  people.  (Acts 
2:37-41). 

The  kingdom  of  god  came  with  power  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost  (Mark  9:1)  when  three  thousand  were  en- 
lightened by  the  preaching  of  the  Spirit-filled  church,  and 
they  received  the  new  life  (new  birth),  and  they  gave 
their  allegiance  to  Jesus  as  the  once  crucified  but  now 
risen  and  exalted  Prince  and  Saviour,  thus  becoming  cit- 
izens of  the  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN  which  began  to  be 
established  on  earth.     (Acts  5:31). 

Except  one  be  thus  born  anew  he  cannot  see  or  enter 
into  this  glorious  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  and  he  has 


Seven  Messages  15 

no  promise  of  going  to  the  paradise  of  God  after  death. 

Can  anyone  fail  to  see  that  if  he  becomes  a  citizen  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  he  is  a  child  of  God  and  there- 
fore an  heir  to  the  blessedness  of  heaven?  (John  17:24, 
Rom.  8:17). 

It  is  vastly  important  that  our  children  be  instructed 
by  teachers  who  have  the  "key  of  knowledge"  (Luke  11 : 
52),  and  who  can  lead  them  into  the  delightful  and  profit- 
able realms  of  literature,  history,  art,  science,  and  phi- 
losophy ;  but  the  one  thing  of  supreme  and  of  eternal  im- 
portance is  that  they  be  instructed  by  some  one  who  has 
the  keys  of  gospel  truth  and  that  they  be  born  of  the 
Spirit  and  receive  the  divinely  imparted  life  so  they  can 
SEE  and  ENTER  INTO  the  kingdom  of  heaven  now,  and 
thus  be  heirs  "to  an  inheritance  incorruptible,  undefiled, 
and  that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven"  for  those 
who  are  kept  by  the  power  of  God  through  faith  unto 
a  salvation  ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time.  ( i 
Peter  i  :4-5). 


II 

The  True  Church 

"Other  sheep  I  have^  which  are  not  of  this  fold  (Greek- 
aules)  :  them  also  I  must  bring,  and  they  shall  hear  my 
voice;  and  they  shall  become  one  flock  (Greek-poimne) , 
one  shepherd/^    (John  io:i6). 

T  N  the  scriptures  God  is  frequently  spoken  of  as  the 
-■-Shepherd  of  Israel,  and  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
Psalms  describes  the  blessedness  of  the  one  who  has  Je- 
hovah for  his  shepherd.  When  Jesus  spoke  the  words 
of  the  text  in  his  address  to  the  Jews  practically  all  the 
world  was  in  gross  darkness,  and  they  were  following 
blind  guides  who  misled  them.  Whatever  religion  they  had 
did  not  benefit  them  much  in  the  way  of  helping  them  to 
better  thinking  or  better  living,  but  it  filled  their  minds 
with  foolish  and  fearsome  fancies  which  made  them  easy 
victims  of  pagan  priests  who  fooled  them  in  order  to  fleece 
them.  All  pretenders  who  had  come  among  the  Jews 
claiming  to  be  the  promised  Messiah  were  thieves  and 
robbers ;  and  all  former  leaders  in  all  lands  were  imperfect 
and  inadequate  guides:  but  Jesus  said,  "I  am  the  good 
shepherd:"  and  he  represented  himself  as  knowing  his 
sheep  by  name  intimately,  and  being  ready  to  lay  down 
his  life  for  them. 

His  love  reached  beyond  the  fold  of  Abraham's  pos- 
terity or  Israel  and  embraced  all  the  remainder  of  man- 

i6 


Seven  Messages  17 

kind  who  were  dispersed  and  without  a  shepherd.  He 
would  become  the  leader  or  shepherd  of  all  races  of  men, 
but  they  must  first  be  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  him  be- 
fore they  would  follow  him.  The  Jews  thought  they 
were  sufficiently  blessed  and  safe  because  they  were  in  the 
Jewish  national  fold  while  all  the  other  peoples  of  the 
world  were  without  fold  or  shepherd ;  but  Jesus  said  to 
some  of  them  who  were  not  personally  true  people,  **Ye 
believe  not,  because  ye  are  not  of  my  sheep."  (V.  26). 
Being  in  a  sheep-fold  would  not  change  a  goat  into  a  sheep, 
as  being  in  a  wheat-field  would  not  change  wild  oats  into 
wheat ;  and  no  more  will  being  in  the  Jewish  race  or  be- 
longing to  some  church  organization  calling  itself  the  true 
church  or  fold  of  Christ  prove  that  one  is  a  Christian, 
or  one  of  Christ's  flock.  Judas  was  in  the  Jewish  fold 
and  he  was  among  Christ's  flock,  but  he  was  not  safe  on 
that  account. 

In  the  original  Greek  there  is  nothing  said  about 
Christ  bringing  all  his  sheep  into  one  fold;  but  he  is  to 
LEAD  all  his  people  who  are  in  all  nations,  and  they  will 
become  one  flock  with  himself  as  their  one  shepherd. 
"My  sheep  hear  my  voice,  and  i  know  them,  and 
THEY  follow  ME:  and  I  give  unto  them  eternal  life." 
(V.  27).  The  thought  of  Christ  is  not  that  all  his  people 
shall  be  gathered  into  one  organization  but  that  they 
shall  all  HEAR  HIS  word  so  as  to  know  his  will,  and  then 
trustfully  follow  him  which  is  the  whole  of  true  Chris- 
tianity. It  is  not  being  in  a  true  fold  but  being  truly 
HIS  HEARING  AND  FOLLOWING  FLOCK  which  is  Supremely 
important. 

People   lacking   in   liberality   of   mind   and   being   ac- 


1 8      True  Christiaji,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

customed  to  be  told  that  theirs  is  the  old  and  original 
CHURCH  WHICH  CHRIST  FOUNDED,  find  it  easy  to  repeat 
this  conceit  like  parrots  without  giving  it  any  careful  in- 
vestigation. They  are  not  consciously  in  need  of  each  for 
himself  seeking  the  truth  by  dilligent  study  of  the  words 
of  Christ  and  of  his  inspired  apostles  to  see  what  they 
really  did  teach,  since  they  are  satisfied  they  have 
all  the  truth  they  need.  Think  carefully  and  you  must 
conclude  that  as  all  branches  of  a  tree  have  their  origin 
in  the  roots,  and  as  all  branches  of  the  tree  are  equally 
connected  with  the  roots;  so  all  of  his  flock  which 
FOLLOW  HIM,  no  matter  how  they  may  be  organized 
under  human  leaders,  or  whether  they  are  organized  at 
all  under  human  leaders,  are  Christ's  true  church 
which  has  always  continued  in  the  world  since  that  Pente- 
costal birth-day  or  establishing  of  the  church.     (Acts  2). 

Suppose  four  boys  have  only  one  apple,  and  they  cut  it 
into  FOUR  PIECES,  each  boy  taking  one  piece ;  how  absurd 
it  would  be  for  any  one  of  the  boys  to  contend  that  his 
PIECE  is  the  ORIGINAL  APPLE  and  that  all  the  other 
PIECES  were  cut  ofif  from  his  piece,  and  that  therefore 
they  are  not  really  apple  at  all !  Every  piece  of  the  apple 
goes  back  historically  to  the  bud,  the  blossom,  the  sap  in 
the  limb,  and  to  the  root  from  which  they  all  alike  grew 
and  to  which  they  are  all  equally  related. 

Now  about  four  hundred  years  ago,  for  reasons 
which  it  is  not  necessary  to  recite  here,  the  Christian 
church  (Church  Apple)  in  the  greater  part  of  Europe 
separated  into  four  parts.  The  millions  of  Chris- 
tians in  Abyssinia,  Syria,  Armenia  and  Russia  had  already 
for  centuries  been  not  organically  connected  with  the 


Seven  Messages  19 

European  church  organization  which  was  largely  Ro- 
man or  under  the  rule  of  the  Pope.  These  four  parts 
of  the  European  church  organization  with  all  the 
church  edifices  which  went  with  them  were  the  Lutheran, 
the  Presbyterian,  the  Anglican,  and  the  Roman.  In  gen- 
eral terms  it  may  be  said  that  Germany  and  Scandinavia 
were  Lutherans,  the  Netherlands  and  Scotland  were  Pres- 
byterian, England  was  Anglican,  while  Ireland  and  South- 
ern Europe  were  Roman. 

How  in  truth  and  in  reason  is  it  possible  for  an  in- 
telligent man  to  claim  that  any  one  part  of  this  sepa- 
rated and  in  some  things  disagreeing  flock  or  company 
of  people  professing  to  follow  Christ  is  the  old  and 
original  church  which  Christ  founded,  and  that  all 
others  are  not  truly  church  at  all?  That  is  as  ab- 
surd as  for  one  boy  to  claim  that  his  piece  of  the  apple 
is  the  only  one  that  is  apple  at  all.  And  no  part  of  the 
church  can  reasonably  call  itself  the  catholic  (universal) 
church;  for  in  so  far  as  it  is  Lutheran,  roman,  An- 
glican, or  PRESBYTERIAN  it  is  LIMITED,  and  NOT  CATH- 
OLIC. 

At  one  time  practically  the  whole  of  Europe  was  po- 
litically ORGANIZED  as  part  of  the  wide-spreading  Roman 
Empire;  but  later  the  various  divisions  of  territory  were 
organized  into  separate  nations  distinct  from  the  central 
government  in  Rome.  Would  any  one  say  that  they  had 
no  legitimate  government  and  must  forever  remain  a  part 
of  the  Roman  Empire  which  no  longer  had  any  existence 
as  such?  And  if  this  division  of  civil  government  be 
proper,  there  were  more  legitimate  reasons  for  the  flock 
or  church  of  Christ  separating  into  different  sections  or 


20     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

ORGANIZATIONS,  and  this  without  any  loss  of  historic  con- 
nection with  the  original  company  of  believers  at  Jerusa- 
lem. Similarity  of  teaching  and  life  constitutes  the  only 
true  succession.  All  parts  of  the  church  or  flock  of  Christ 
are  equally  old  in  the  sense  that  all  have  an  equal  right  to 
claim  that  they  have  a  continuous  and  vital  connection 
with  Christ  and  the  primitive  Christians;  but  the  church 
composed  of  living  people  is  at  no  time  more  than  a  few 
years  old. 

Every  individual  man  has  an  equally  historic  connection 
with  Adam  according  to  the  old  record,  no  matter  in  what 
part  of  the  world  he  may  live ;  and  every  true  follower 
of  Christ  is  one  of  his  flock  regardless  of  what  organi- 
zation he  may  belong  to  or  whether  he  belong  to  any 
organization  at  all.  Lawyers  do  not  think  it  necessary 
to  be  able  to  trace  a  direct  line  of  succession  from  Moses 
the  great  lawgiver  before  they  can  be  legitimate  prac- 
titioners, and  there  is  no  more  reason  for  desiring  to  trace 
a  direct  historical  succession  in  the  ministry  or  in  the 
church  organization. 

Keep  in  mind  always  that  only  those  who  hear  the 

VOICE    or    word    of    CHRIST    AND    TRUSTFULLY    FOLLOW 

HIM  are  part  of  his  flock  at  all,  and  that  all  such  people 
are  a  part  of  his  flock  or  of  the  true  church.  There 
always  ought  to  be  in  our  minds  also  a  clear  distinction 
between  the  church  and  the  church  organization. 
There  was  a  great  number  of  people  in  the  world  before 
there  was  any  government  or  any  need  of  government; 
and  in  like  manner  there  were  thousands  of  Christian  peo- 
ple in  the  flock  of  Christ  at  Pentecost  who  constituted 
the  whole  church  before  they  were  organized  into  any 


Seven  Messages  21 

form  of  church  government;  and  the  church  would  exist 
still  even  though  all  of  the  church  organizations  were 
disbanded  or  ceased  to  be. 

France  was  France  when  it  was  organized  into  an 
Empire,  and  it  was  none  the  less  France  when  organized 
into  a  kingdom,  and  none  the  less  is  it  still  France  now 
that  it  is  organized  into  a  republic.  The  people  are  the 
really  important  thing  about  France  or  any  other  countr>' ; 
and  in  the  same  way  the  Spirit-taught  people  or  real 
Christians  are  the  flock  of  Christ  or  his  church  whether 
they  are  organized  or  not  organized  at  all  as  was  largely 
the  fact  with  the  church  in  its  earliest  years.  And  is 
it  not  very  far  better  that  there  be  a  variety  of  organiza- 
tions somewhat  analogus  to  our  political  parties,  each 
to  supplement  the  defects  and  to  watch  the  errors  of  the 
others,  and  having  liberty  of  expression;  rather  than  to 
have  one  great  monarchical  and  religio-political  trust  or 
combination  which  might  become  unbearably  oppressive 
and  considerably  corrupt,  as  was  the  fact  in  the  church 
at  the  time  when  the  great  protesting  organizations 
were  formed? 

All  thinking  people  know  that  government  both  civil 
and  church,  like  most  other  human  institutions,  is  a  de- 
velopment or  evolution  from  less  or  more  perfect  in- 
stitutions of  an  earlier  date.  In  civil  life  there  was  first 
the  family  management  or  government,  then  the  tribal, 
then  the  tribes  combined  into  petty  kingdoms,  later  these 
kingdoms  might  form  a  combination  into  empires;  and 
finally  when  the  people  become  sufficiently  liberty-loving, 
intelligent,  and  righteous  so  as  to  be  fit  for  self-govern- 
ment, sometimes  they  organize  into  republics.     In  the 


22      True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

times  of  superstitious  ignorance,  the  people  really  believed 
that  the  usurping  kings  had  certain  divine  rights  among 
which  was  the  right  of  succession  or  handing  on  the 
crown  from  father  to  son ;  but  while  some  intelligent  peo- 
ples still  permit  such  succession,  they  do  it  as  a  matter 
of  expediency,  and  not  as  a  matter  of  necessity  or  of  any 
special  divine  right  of  the  royal  family. 

And  in  the  church,  even  though  we  should  admit  that 
by  shutting  our  eyes  to  the  historic  facts,  it  could  be 
shown  that  Christ  appointed  Peter  as  the  head  of  the 
church  to  be  its  emperor  or  pontiff,  to  send  out  his 
provincial  subordinates,  and  to  have  rule  over  all  Chris- 
tians, and  by  right  of  his  office  to  decide  (Ex  cathedra  and 
infallibly)  all  questions  of  christian  doctrine;  it  would 
still  be  pure  assumption  that  some  one  must  fall  heir  to 
all  this  powder  and  position  by  so-called  apostolic  succes- 
sion which  is  a  churchly  aping  of  royal  succession  in  civil 
government.  All  readers  of  true  history  know  that  church 
government  underwent  stages  of  evolution  from  the 
simple  common  brotherhood  and  advisory  counsel  where 
each  had  only  such  power  as  his  experience,  and  personal 
worth,  and  intelligence  gave  him  influence  (Acts  15:1-34 
and  11:1-18)  ;  and  on  through  the  stage  of  comparatively 
unorganized  missionary  activity  when  the  christians 
modeled  their  management  of  aifairs  after  the  Jewish 
synagogue  management;  on  through  the  centuries  of 
pagan  persecutions  till  the  church  became  popular  un- 
der the  patronage  of  Emperor  Constantine:  and  after 
this  it  was  easy  for  the  scheming  leaders  at  Rome  to  as- 
sume some  such  preeminence  in  church  matters  as  the 
civil   rulers   there   exercised    in    civil   matters;    and    this 


Seven  Messages  23 

modeling  after  the  civil  government  increased  more  and 
more  till  the  days  of  Gregor>'  seventh  (Hildebrand 
1020-1085)  when  this  pope  gained  the  supremacy  over 
the  kings.  This  was  the  climax  of  papal  assumption, 
as  it  was  also  the  death  knell  of  liberty  till  the  intrepid 
leaders  Luther  and  Calvin  restored  liberty. 

No  particular  form  of  government  is  obligatory  upon 
the  church,  although  the  representative  form  had  its 
origin  among  the  Jews  by  Divine  suggestion;  but  chris- 
tians are  free  to  associate  or  organize  themselves  together 
for  helpfulness  and  for  evangelizing  enterprises  in  any 
way  which  seems  to  them  desirable  at  any  time  and  place. 
The  method  best  at  one  time  and  place  might  not  be  best 
at  another  time  and  place;  and  no  cast  iron  method  is 
demanded ;  but  the  best  way  always  and  everywhere  is 
the  way  which  best  preserves  liberty  and  secures  the 
interests  of  the  flock  of  Christ. 

All  usurpations  and  conceits  hinder  the  delightful, 
free,  and  brotherly  fellowship  among  the  flock  such  as 
was  so  noticeable  in  the  Pentecostal  church.  (Acts  2:43- 
47).  All  assumption  of  lordship  over  the  flock  is 
unAmerican  because  undemocratic,  and  it  is  unchris- 
tian because  opposed  to  the  plain  commands  of  Christ 
who  said,  ''One  is  your  Master,  and  all  ye  are  brethren." 
(Matt.  23:8).  "Neither  be  ye  called  masters;  for  one  is 
your  Master,  even  Christ."  (Matt.  23  :io).  "J^^^»s  call- 
ed them  unto  him,  and  said,  Ye  know  that  the  rulers  of 
the  Gentiles  lord  it  over  them,  and  their  great  ones 
exercise  authority  over  them.  Not  so  shall  it  be  among 
YOU :  but  whosoever  would  become  great  among  you  shall 
be  your  servant;  and  whosoever  would  be  first  among 


24     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

you  shall  be  your  servant  (bondservant)."     (Matt.  20: 

25-27). 

The  inspired  picture  or  description  of  that  glorious 
church  at  Pentecost  is  providentially  preserved  to  us  as 
a  constant  reminder  that  every  church  should  have  the 
essential  features  of  that  church,  all  enfolded  in  a  heavenly 
fellowship  by  the  Holy  Spirit  abiding  in  them  each,  and 
all  enthused  with  a  loving  desire  to  tell  to  others  the  joy 
of  the  new  life  which  they  received  from  God.  (Acts 
2:40-42).  If  every  church  were  thus  truly  and  fully 
what  it  should  be  the  "other  sheep"  for  whom  Christ 
lived,  and  died,  and  intercedes  would  speedily  be  brought 
into  the  blessedness  of  the  christian  flock  under  the  one 

SHEPHERD,  CHRIST.  AnY  AND  ALL  CHURCH  ORGANIZA- 
TIONS are  valuable  only  in  so  far  as  they  are  useful  in 
leading  people  to  become  real  followers  of  christ. 


Ill 

The  Parable  of  the  Father's  Love 
Parable  of  the  Fathers  Love.      (Luke   15:11-32). 

THIS  has  been  miscalled  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal 
Son,  but  it  is  the  parable  of  the  Father's  Love ;  the 
younger  son  being  described  only  incidentally  and  in  order 
to  make  vivid  the  solicitous  attitude  of  the  father  toward 
his  once  wayward  but  now  penitent  son. 

"Now  all  the  publicans  and  sinners  were  drawing  near 
unto  him  to  hear  him.  And  both  the  Pharisees  and  the 
scribes  murmured,  saying.  This  man  receiveth  sinners, 
and  eateth  with  them."     (Vs.  2-3). 

In  rebuke  of  these  faultfinders  Christ  held  up  this 
parable  before  them  as  a  mirror  in  order  that  they  might 
see  themselves  to  be  as  ugly  and  as  repulsive  as  the  elder 
brother  of  this  story,  and  that  they  might  see  that  in 
sympathetically  and  forgivingly  receiving  such  publicans 
and  sinners  he  was  correctly  representing  the  loving  and 
redeeming  attitude  of  God  yearning  over  those  who  had 
been  lost  among  the  deceptive  allurements  of  the  world. 
In  our  comparatively  democratic  society,  created  by  two 
thousand  years  of  gospel  influence,  we  can  scarcely  im- 
agine the  self-righteous  aloofness  of  the  Pharisee  or  his 
disdain  for  the  social  outcasts  who  eagerly  listened  to 
Jesus. 

"A  certain  man  had  two  sons :  and  the  younger  of  them 
25 


26     True  Christian^  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

said  to  his  father,  Father,  give  me  the  portion  of  thy 
substance  that  falleth  to  me."  (v.  ii).  How  selfish 
and  heartless  this  youth  who  had  been  spoiled  by  over 
indulgent  parents!  He  wants  to  wear  his  father's  shoes 
before  he  is  done  with  them.  He  would  watch  for  his 
father's  death  so  he  could  get  his  property  about  as  a 
flock  of  buzzards  used  to  circle  above  a  herd  of  bison 
roaming  the  plains  so  as  to  feed  upon  any  weak  ones  which 
might  fall.  This  young  man  is  frankly  sick  of  the  careful 
ways  of  the  old  home  and  he  is  eager  to  get  out  into  the  big 
world  where  he  fancies  success  and  notoriety  await  him; 
and  to  all  words  of  advice  and  caution  as  he  leaves  home 
he  confidently  says,  "You  watch  me:"  but  ere  long  he  will 
become  disillusioned,  and  then  he  will  be  desperately  home- 
sick and  humbled. 

He  is  like  young  Samson  gambling  with  the  Philistines, 
and  like  these  latter  the  sporting  associates  of  this  youth 
would  put  out  his  very  eyes  to  get  his  money  and  they 
would  make  him  a  slave  to  grind  at  the  mill  for  their 
amusement  and  profit;  even  as  the  same  class  in  modern 
times  would  flatter  a  youth  in  order  to  fleece  him  in  the 
gaming  and  gambling  haunts  till  they  bring  him  down 
from  social  position  to  the  level  of  a  ruined  cuspidor 
cleaner.  Yet  a  silly  youth  thinks  such  companions  are 
his  friends!  O  the  deceitfulness  of  sin!  It  promises 
pleasure,  and  it  does  indeed  allow  you  to  nibble  at  the 
bait  till  the  cruel  trap  springs. 

It  did  not  take  this  young  man  long  to  get  away  from 
the  comforts  and  the  safety  of  the  old  home  and  into  a 
far  country;  and  while  his  father's  money  lasted  he  had 
plenty  of  swift  companions  to  share  it  with  him.     They 


Seven  Messages  27 

were  just  such  a  dangerous  and  worthless  set  as  loiter 
around  gaming  and  gambling  places  in  our  towns  where 
our  pleasure-mad  and  unthinking  young  men  absorb  false 
and  ruinous  ideas  and  ideals,  and  so  lose  their  prospects 
for  success  in  life.  Like  an  uncomprehending  child  this 
youth  fancied  there  was  no  bottom  to  his  pocketbook  and 
no  limit  to  the  amount  of  money  which  can  be  drawn 
from  the  bank.  But  no  matter  how  much  has  been  pro- 
vided by  parental  frugality,  the  young  fool  and  his  money 
are  soon  parted.  "Seest  thou  a  man  wise  in  his  own 
conceit?  There  is  more  hope  of  a  fool  than  for  him." 
"He  that  being  often  reproved  hardeneth  his  neck,  shall 
suddenly  be  destroyed,  and  that  without  remedy."  (Prov. 
26:12  and  29:1). 

While  this  youth  fancied  he  was  having  a  good  time 
sowing  wild  oats,  he  was  preparing  a  larger  harvest  of  them 
than  he  knew  of  and  one  which  he  must  reap  in  humili- 
ation and  bitterness.  How  strange  that  such  people  can- 
not see  that  their  morning  sun  of  good  opportunities  will 
not  last  the  whole  of  life's  long  day!  Suddenly  distress- 
ingly hard  times  came  upon  the  country  and  his  easy 
money  was  all  gone.  He  had  chased  the  butterfly  of 
pleasure,  if  nothing  worse,  till  he  had  heedlessly  fallen 
over  the  unseen  precipice  into  the  valley  of  poverty;  and 
in  chagrin,  he  took  a  job  feeding  swine  in  order  to  keep 
from  starving:  and  none  of  his  old  pals  cared  to  see  his 
false  pride  and  pretenses  exposed.  How  many  bright 
youths  with  splendid  opportunities  for  success  have,  like 
Esau,  bartered  all  away  for  a  mess  of  pottage  in  the  shape 
of  some  momentary  enjoyment,  or  indulgence.  And  when 
the  golden  days  of  youth  have  gone  by  as  swiftly  a  weaver's 


28     Tfue  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings . 

shuttle,  they  have  waked  up  to  the  fact  that  they  have 
played  the  fool  by  neglecting  God's  councils.  What  a 
mercy  that  we  have  this  divinely  given  parable  so  we  can 
learn  from  the  mistakes  of  others  who  have  vainly  tried 
the  paths  of  folly,  and  so  avoid  them  ourselves ! 

When  this  young  man  waked  up  to  the  situation  he 
eaid  to  himself,  "How  many  hired  servants  of  my  father's 
^ave  bread  enough  and  to  spare,  and  I  perish  here  with 
hunger!  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father,  and  will  say 
•unto  him.  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven,  and  in 
Jthy  sight;  I  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son: 
make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants."  Plow  many  poor 
fellows  might  appropriately  sing: 

"I've  wandered  far  away  from  God, 
Now  I'm  coming  home; 
The  paths  of  sin  too  long  I've  trod. 
Lord,  I'm  coming  home. 

I've  wasted  many  precious  years, 
Now  I'm  coming  home; 
I  now  repent  with  bitter  tears, 
Lord,  I'm  coming  home." 

"But  while  he  was  yet  afar  off,  his  father  saw  him,  and 
was  moved  with  compassion,  and  ran,  and  fell  on  his 
neck  and  kissed  him.  And  the  son  said  unto  him,  Father, 
I  have  sinned  against  heaven,  and  in  thy  sight:  I  am  no 
more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son."  But  before  he  could 
finish  what  he  had  planned  to  say  about  being  made  as 
a  hired  servant  his  father  cried  to  one  of  the  servants, 


Seven  Messages  29 

"Bring  forth  quickly  the  best  robe,  and  put  it  on  him ; 
and  put  a  ring  on  his  hand,  and  shoes  on  his  feet:  and 
bring  the  fatted  calf,  and  kill  it,  and  let  us  eat,  and  be 
merry:  for  this  my  son  was  dead,  and  is  alive  again;  he 
was  lost,  and  is  found."  Oh  yes,  God  sees  the  poor 
sinner  while  he  is  yet  afar  off,  and  He  runs  to  our  rescue 
before  we  see  Him;  and  He  is  more  glad  to  welcome  us 
than  we  are  to  be  welcomed.  This  prematurely  ageing 
father  had  cherished  a  fond  hope  that  his  son  would  re- 
turn, and  he  was  watching  for  him ;  and  since  the  mother 
is  not  mentioned,  it  is  likely  that  she  had  gone  disappointed 
and  broken-hearted  to  her  grave,  and  was  now  in  heaven 
sharing  the  joy  of  the  angels  over  this  repenting  sinner. 

How  perfectly  this  returning  son  represented  the  crowds 
of  publicans  and  sinners  who  gathered  to  hear  Jesus 
preach  the  glad  news  of  God's  forgiving  love!  And  be- 
hold in  the  father's  joyous  welcome  and  bountiful  treat- 
ment of  his  unworthy  but  penitent  son  the  very  heart  of 
God  opened  to  our  view ! 

"There's  a  wideness  in  God's  mercy 
Like  the  wideness  of  the  sea; 
There's  a  kindness  in  his  justice 
Which  is  more  than  liberty." 

What  a  slander  upon  God  to  teach  that  some  other 
person  is  more  compassionate  and  loving  than  He  is 
and  that  we  need  some  human  mediator  between  us  and 
our  triune  God ! 

Some  years  ago  a  young  man  left  his  home  in  the  east 
and  came  to  a  western  city  where  he  fell  in  with  evil  as- 


30     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

sociates,  and  finally  died  of  alcoholic  excess.  When  his 
body  lay  in  the  morgue  I  stood  by  the  mother  who  came 
for  it  as  with  grief  inexpressible  she  caressed  the  cold 
form,  lovingly  stroking  his  forehead,  and  recalling  the 
sweet  memories  of  his  happy  childhood,  and  contrasting 
them  with  her  present  despair  and  the  haunting  fact  of 
his  ruined  life  and  hopeless  death.  No  wonder  Jesus  al- 
ways spoke  of  God  as  Father;  for  in  the  parental  love 
we  see  something  of  God  who  "So  loved  the  world,  that 
he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth 
in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life." 

Here  is  in  brief  a  true  story  of  a  young  man  from  a 
christian  home  of  culture  and  love  who  was  employed  in  a 
western  city.  Evil  associates  influenced  him  into  certain 
wrong  ways,  and  he  was  ashamed  to  face  his  parents  who 
had  given  him  most  favorable  advantages;  and  he  decided 
to  go  to  Canada  and  join  a  battalion  which  was  about  to 
be  sent  to  the  European  front.  After  two  days  of  his 
absence  his  employers  sent  a  messenger  to  the  parental 
home  to  ask  if  they  knew  where  their  son  was;  and  not 
knowing  whether  he  had  met  with  foul  play  or  whether 
he  had  gone  without  leaving  any  word  as  to  his  where- 
abouts, the  anxious  parents  at  once  made  use  of  the  mails 
and  of  the  long  distance  telephone  to  inquire  of  friends 
both  east  and  west.  More  than  words  can  tell  the  par- 
ental hearts  were  distressed  like  as  was  Jacob's  in  the 
Bible  story  when  Joseph  was  missing;  and  the  father, 
kissing  the  praying  and  hoping  mother  good-bye,  hastened 
to  the  western  city  hoping  to  find  some  trace  of  their  son. 
Following  one  slight  clue  and  the  guiding  hand  of  God, 
the  father  decided  to  go  to  the  international  border,  and 


Seven  Messages  31 

there  in  a  terrific  blizzzard  which  froze  many  people,  he 
searched  for  his  son ;  but  finding  no  trace  of  him,  he 
hurried  on  to  an  interior  city  some  hundreds  of  miles;  and 
there  as  the  clock  was  striking  the  small  hours  of  the 
night  he  found  his  son  in  a  battalion  which  was  soon  to  be 
ordered  to  the  European  trenches.  The  necessary  effort 
was  made  to  get  him  discharged,  and  father  and  son 
hastened  home  to  gladden  the  heart  of  the  distressed 
mother;  and  all  thought  of  the  great  trouble  and  ex- 
pense was  as  nothing  if  only  the  son  was  safe. 

This  but  faintly  illustrates  the  solicitude  of  God  our 
heavenly  Father  who  sent  his  beloved  Son  Jesus  Christ 
into  this  cold  world  to  redeem  sinful  men,  and  who  has 
committed  unto  us  the  ministry  of  reconciliation;  and  the 
church  should  be  seeking  everywhere,  and  everyway,  and 
always  to  persuade  the  wandering  ones  to  come  home  to 
God.  Jesus  said  in  his  prayer,  **As  thou  didst  send  me 
into  the  world,  even  so  sent  I  them  into  the  world." 
(John  17:18).  Our  mission  is  to  carry  forward  the  work 
of  reconciliation  which  Jesus  began,  till  all  men  hear  the 
cry,  *'We  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to 
God."  (2  Cor.  5:20).  Instead  of  being  like  the  phari- 
sees  and  scribes  who  complained  because  Jesus  was  seek- 
ing to  save  the  lost  ones,  we  should  have  his  same  zeal 
to  reclaim  the  erring  sinners;  for  they  are  the  prodigals 
who  need  our  help  and  persuasion  to  return  to  the  ways 
of  reverence  toward  God  and  of  righteousness  toward 
men. 

O  sinner,  however  far  you  have  wandered,  and  how- 
ever long  you  have  continued  in  waywardness,  this  hour 
reflect  upon  your  folly,  and  heed  God's  entreaty  to  come 


32      True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

back  to  him.  A  boundless  welcome  awaits  you.  This  is 
your  highest  privilege,  and  to  avail  yourself  of  it  will 
secure  to  you  new  joys  and  hopes.  Let  every  wanderer 
say,  "I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  Father.''  Delay  not  lest 
ye  die. 


IV 

Godliness  Profitable 

''Godliness  is  profitable  for  all  things,  having  promise  of 
the  life  which  now  is  and  of  that  which  is  to  come." 
(i   Tim.  4:8). 

''  I  ""  OSES  and  the  prophets  of  God's  ancient  people 
-■-  spoke  to  them  chiefly  of  •matters  pertaining  to  the 
life  on  earth  and  to  the  affairs  around  them  rather  than 
about  things  remote  from  their  lives.  Our  text  says, 
"Godliness  is  Profitable  for  all  beings,  having  promise 
of  the  life  which  now  is  and  of  that  which  is  to  come." 
What  is  so  widely  profitable  should  be  pleasurable  to 
prudent  people,  and  yet  too  many  people  have  sought 
pleasure  and  enjo^'ment  in  ungodliness. 

Let  us  be  sure  that  we  get  the  apostle's  idea.  What 
is  godliness?  Perhaps  another  question  might  give  us  a 
valuable  hint.  What  is  manliness?  The  Centur}-  Dic- 
tionary^ defines  it  as  "character  and  conduct  worthy  of  a 
man."  Then  one  would  conclude  that  godliness  uould 
be  character  and  conduct  worthy  of  God ;  and  the  same 
dictionary  defines  it  as  "Conformity  to  the  will  and  law 
of  God."  In  John  1:18  we  read,  "No  man  hath  seen 
God  at  any  time;  the  only  begotten  Son  who  is  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath  declared  him."  Christ  is 
the  manifestation,  expression,  exhibition,  or  embodiment 
of  God  in  man,  so  that  Jesus  could  say  truly,  "He  that 

33 


34     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father."  (John  14:9). 
Therefore  to  be  godly  is  to  be  Christlike,  and  this  is  to  be 
pure  in  emotions  and  in  conduct,  to  be  truthful  and  sin- 
cere, to  be  reverent  toward  God  our  Father  and  kind  and 
loving  toward  our  brother  man,  to  love  truth  and  right- 
eousness, and  to  seek  to  impart  to  men  the  saving  knowl- 
edge of  God  and  of  his  redeeming  purposes  and  love. 

The  apostle  says  that  such  godliness  is  profitable  for 
this  world  and  for  the  next;  but  while  all  would  admit 
that  it  is  profitable  for  the  life  to  come,  some  would  seem 
to  question  its  profitableness  for  all  things  in  this  present 
life.  It  ought  to  be  easy  to  see  that  ungodliness  is 
disastrously  unprofitable,  for  it  is  demonstrated  before  our 
eyes  at  all  times.  For  instance,  aggressive  war  is  ungodli- 
ness; and  the  war  across  the  sea  has  directly  caused  the 
death  of  enough  people  so  that  if  they  were  laid  side  by 
side,  allowing  two  feet  to  each  one,  they  would  make 
a  row  of  corpses  2,272  miles  long;  and  if  they  were  corded 
up  like  wood  22  deep,  it  would  be  100  miles  long,  and  the 
end  is  not  yet.  Does  it  need  any  argument  to  show  that 
this  is  an  ungodly  and  an  unprofitable  use  to  make  of  the 
strongest  young  men  of  the  warring  nations?  And  add 
to  this  the  destruction  of  the  labor  of  centuries,  the  piling 
up  of  billions  of  debt  for  children's  children  to  pay,  the 
blinding  and  crippling  of  millions,  the  forcing  of  widows' 
tears  and  orphans'  cries,  and  the  entailing  of  disease  upon 
hapless  millions  of  the  inoffensive ;  and  surely  it  will  seem 
to  be  the  climax  of  all  that  is  monstrously  unprofitable. 

Drunkenness  is  one  form  of  ungodliness,  and  though  the 
traffic  which  causes  drunkenness  be  less  spectacular  in  its 
methods  than  is  war,  it  is  scarcely  less  harmful;  for  it 


Sevefi  Messages  35 

works  its  wreckage  by  day  and  by  night  through  the  cen- 
turies. This  form  of  ungodliness  and  unmanliness  is 
economically,  socially,  and  morally  unprofitable;  and  wise 
people  should  abolish  it  from  the  land :  for  it  does  us 
far  more  injury  than  any  foreign  foe  could  ever  do;  and 
against  these  many  people  and  statesmen  are  quick  to  make 
preparation.  Selfish  greed  is  ungodliness,  and  it  causes 
all  the  strife  between  employer  and  employees ;  and  surely 
this  is  disastrously  unprofitable  to  everybody. 

Social  vice  and  all  impurity  is  the  worst  form  of  un- 
godliness, and  nothing  can  be  more  unprofitable  in  every 
way ;  for  it  leads  to  the  hospital,  to  the  insane  asylum, 
and  to  the  grave  with  impetuous  swiftness;  and  what 
eternal  horrors  hang  around  such  beds  of  anguish  and 
such  hopeless  deaths! 

This  was  the  chief  cause  of  the  decline  and  fall  of  all 
ancient  nations,  and  their  final  destruction  was  none  the 
less  complete  although  it  might  be  less  spectacular  than 
that  of  Sodom.  Sensual  vice  was  rampant  in  all  ancient 
pagan  nations  as  it  is  today  in  all  godless  communities, 
sapping  the  verility  of  manhood  and  perverting  the  do- 
mestic instincts  of  womanhood,  and  it  takes  away  the  am- 
bition for  moral  excellence  and  causes  an  abnormal  dis- 
taste for  noble  character  and  an  aversion  for  the  chris- 
tian life  of  purity. 

How  strange  that  in  each  generation  a  host  of  men  and 
women  should  go  down  as  moral  weaklings  in  this  whirl- 
pool of  moral  filth,  suffering  indescribable  anguish  of 
heart  on  the  downward  slide  and  often  leprous  loathe- 
someness  of  body.  Thomas  Hood's  poem,  "The  Bridge 
of  Sighs"  describes  the  despair  which  drives  to  suicide  so 


36     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

many  of  those  who  travel  the  ungodly  way  till  they  reap 
the  unprofitable  harvest  from  their  wild  oats  which  they 
have  sown  with  reckless  wilfulness.  Those  who  give  any 
excuse  for  a  double  standard  in  virtuous  character  and 
conduct  think  chiefly  of  the  greater  calamity  which  falls 
upon  woman  than  upon  man  for  the  same  sinful  dis- 
obedience to  God's  holy  laws  which  are  as  a  railing 
around  a  precipice  to  prevent  our  falling  to  destruction; 
but  the  SINFULNESS  of  sin  is  alike  to  both  even  if  the 
greater  calamity  falls  upon  woman ;  and  a  masculine 
moral  leper  has  no  standing  before  the  holy  God  and 
he  should  have  none  among  decent  men. 

All  sin  is  first  a  crime  against  God  our  Maker,  and 
against  our  fellow  men,  and  then  it  is  a  calamity  upon 
ourselves;  and  we  should  hate  sin  more  than  we  fear  its 
calamitous  consequences.  Our  luxurious  times  with  fa- 
cilities for  rapid  travel  and  our  lax  ideas  about  God's 
holy  laws  have  caused  this  sin  to  be  too  common ;  and  the 
Mormon  polygamy  with  its  numerous  wives  all  at  the 
same  time  is  hardly  worse  than  the  common  tandem  poly- 
gamy made  easy  by  the  divorce  court.  Marriage  among 
respectable  people  should  be  entered  into  with  pure  and 
unselfish  affection  between  pure  young  people,  and  it 
should  be  consummated  by  a  public  ceremony  which 
recognizes  God  and  our  high  relationship  to  Him  and 
to  society.  More  sense  in  contracting  marriage  would 
make  unnecessary  most  of  the  shame  of  seeking  its  annul- 
ment by  the  civil  courts.  Do  we  not  see  the  necessity  for 
more  safeguarding  of  our  young  people  by  producing 
a  purer  moral  atmosphere  in  which  they  can  live  after 
wholesome  examples,  and  can  we  not  combine  to  exert 


Seven  Messages  37 

a  more  effective  influence  in  the  direction  of  higher  chris- 
tian standards? 

The  criminals  which  trouble  society  and  those  who 
shame  us  by  their  lapses  from  right  ways  have  seldom  en- 
joyed the  blessedness  of  sitting  witli  their  parents  in  the 
sanctifying  atmosphere  of  the  church  assemblies  where 
all  righteousness  is  extolled  and  all  wickedness  is  dis- 
couraged ;  and  there  is  not  one  criminal  in  a  hundred  who 
has  ever  seriously  studied  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Fre- 
quenting places  where  men  resort  to  engage  in  disre- 
putable ways  and  where  vile  and  profane  language  is 
common  is  to  be  discouraged ;  for  the  apostle  well  says, 
"Evil  companionships  corrupt  good  morals."  (i  Cor. 
15:33).  And  the  Holy  Scriptures  give  this  wise  council, 
"enter  not  into  the  path  of  the  wicked,  and  walk  not 
in  the  way  of  evil  men.  Avoid  it ;  pass  not  by  it ;  turn 
FROM  it,  and  pass  on."  P^ollowing  such  wise  advice  would 
have  saved  many  lives,  and  it  would  have  saved  thousands 
from  moral  ruin,  and  it  would  lead  many  to  successful 
lives  who  otherwise  will  be  down-and-outs  or  paupers. 
Sin  gets  thousands  into  trouble  but  it  never  comes  to  their 
rescue  when  they  have  to  collect  the  calamitous  wages  for 
their  evil  works;  and  while  ungodly  ways  promise  pleasure 
and  profit,  they  pay  in  counterfeit  coin  which  is  chagrin- 
ingly  disappointing  to  those  who  will  not  learn  by  the 
mistakes  of  others  and  scarcely  by  their  own. 

But  behold  the  profitableness  and  large  dividends  of 
godliness!  It  is  profitable  to  health  of  body  and  of  mind, 
profitable  to  reputation,  profitable  economically,  profitable 
socially,  and  as  the  apostle  says  it  is  profitable  for  all 
things.      It   costs   more    to    prosecute    and    care    for   one 


38     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

criminal  than  it  does  to  support  the  agencies  which  seek 
to  culture,  refine,  morally  educate,  and  christianize  many 
children  in  the  Sunday  School  and  kindred  organizations 
which  useful  people  maintain.  Parents  and  all  patriots 
should  heartily  encourage  all  such  efforts  by  word  and 
by  example.  A  judge  in  Indiana  some  years  ago  was  the 
first  to  try  the  experiment  of  sentencing  offenders  to 
attend  church  regularly  for  some  months;  and  it  would 
not  be  an  unwise  policy  for  all  judges  and  all  other 
friends  of  society  to  set  a  becoming  example  by  taking  their 
own  medicine  regularly.  A  Bible  studying  people  have 
never  been  a  bad  people,  nor  have  their  children  been 
criminals;  and  the  class  of  people  who  by  neglect  or  by 
word  discourage  such  things  are  not  the  best  citizens. 

The  statistician  Dugdale  of  New  York  has  traced  the 
posterity  of  a  Mr.  Jukes  who  was  a  drunken  pioneer  of 
that  state,  and  out  of  1,200  of  his  descendants  the  ma- 
jority have  been  paupers,  thieves,  harlots,  insane,  de- 
fectives or  other  delinquents ;  and  it  is  estimated  that  that 
family  has  cost  the  state  for  prosecutions,  maintenance 
and  othei-wise  about  $1,300,000.00  since  that  ungodly 
ancestor  settled  in  that  empire  state.  (Encyclopedia  Bri- 
tanica,  Vol.  8,  Page  615  gives  account  of  the  family). 
That  vast  sum  wrung  from  the  public  treasury  to  meet 
the  bills  contracted  on  account  of  that  one  ungodly  man 
and  his  ungodly  posterity  would  have  supported  a  good 
many  schools  and  christianizing  agencies,  and  this  would 
have  been  more  profitable. 

If  children  are  not  won  to  the  christian  life  a  con- 
siderable proportion  of  them  will  bring  sorrow  to  their 
parents,   shame   upon   themselves,    and    financial   burdens 


Seven  Messages  39 

vipcjii  socictN' ;  aiul  no  othfr  plc;i  should  he  necessary  for 
more  and  hetter  home  training,  and  more  chaperoning  of 
young  people  to  save  them  from  exposure  to  evil  in- 
fluences. But  above  all  things  remember  that  it  is  very 
difficult  to  bring  up  children  in  the  way  they  should  go 
unless  you  happen  to  be  going  that  way  yourself.  A 
genuine  revival  of  godliness  would  practically  abolish  war 
with  its  unutterable  woes,  it  would  do  away  with  the 
liquor  business  with  its  accompanying  curse,  it  would 
mightily  stimulate  all  lines  of  beneficial  business,  it  would 
inspire  our  youth  with  high  ambitions  to  excel  in  useful 
living,  it  would  make  us  rise  above  degrading  vice  as  the 
eagle  soars  aloft  over  sickly  swamps,  it  would  greatly 
lessen  the  expense  of  government  by  eliminating  all  fraud, 
it  would  in  many  ways  ease  the  path  of  life,  it  would 
cheer  the  hour  of  death,  and  in  the  apostle's  language  it 
would  be  "profitable  for  all  things." 

In  the  long  race  of  life  how  certainly  will  the  godly 
young  person  surpass  the  ungodly  young  person  of  equal 
natural  ability  and  advantages.  We  are  all  familiar  with 
the  story  of  the  obscure  young  woman  without  money  who 
became  a  consecrated  christian,  and  by  her  devotion  to  all 
good  causes  came  to  be  known  as  America's  uncrowned 
queen,  and  who  after  a  life  of  unequaled  influence  for 
sobriety  and  cleanliness  in  our  nation,  Frances  E.  Willard 
was  the  first  woman  to  have  a  place  in  the  Hall  of  Fame 
in  Washington. 

But  how  can  the  ungodly  become  godly  and  thus  begin 
the  profitable  life  and  reach  the  promised  rest  which  re- 
maineth  to  the  people  of  God?  The  Scriptures  answer, 
"Let  the  wicked   forsake  his  way,  and  the  unrighteous 


40     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

man  his  thoughts;  and  let  him  return  unto  Jehovah  and 
he  will  have  mercy  upon  him ;  and  to  our  God,  for  He 
w^ill  abundantly  pardon."  (Isa.  55:7).  *'Come  now, 
let  us  reason  together,  saith  Jehovah;  though  your  sins 
be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow ;  though  they 
be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool."  (Isa.  1:18). 
"Come  out  from  among  them,  and  by  ye  separate,  saith 
the  Lord,  and  touch  no  unclean  thing;  and  I  will  receive 
you,  and  will  be  to  you  a  Father  and  ye  shall  be  to  me 
sons  and  daughters,  saith  the  Lord  Almighty."  (2  Cor. 
6:17-18).  Bless  the  Lord  who  is  our  Almighty  Helper 
to  be  and  to  do  what  we  ought  to  be  and  to  do.  "Him 
that  Cometh  to  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out;"  are  the 
cheering  words  of  Christ.  (Jno.  6:37).  The  vilest  and 
lowest  may  come ;  for  the  five-times-married  harlot  was 
welcomed;  and  the  crucified  thief  found  pardon.  (Jno. 
4:18).  "If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  right- 
eous to  forgive  us  our  sins  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  un- 
righteousness." (i  John  1:9).  "Blessed  are  they  that 
wash  their  robes,  that  they  may  have  the  right  to  come 
to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may  enter  in  by  the  gates  into 
the  city."     (Rev.  22:14). 

Thus  we  see  that  godliness  is  profitable  to  the  in- 
dividual and  to  society;  profitable  to  mind,  body,  and 
pocketbook;  profitable  during  life  and  at  death;  profitable 
for  all  things  in  time  and  in  eternity.  Let  no  one  fail  to 
possess  this  supremely  good  and  profitable  thing. 


V 

The  Unruly  Boy  and  His  Father. 

"There  are  many  unruly  men."     (Titus  i:io). 

A  LTHOUGH  there  is  no  place  in  the  Bible  where 
^  ^the  words  unruly  boys  are  used,  there  are  several 
cases  of  young  men  whose  heredity  was  not  good  and  who 
were  not  well  trained,  and  as  a  consequence  they  were 
lacking  in  self-control  and  they  were  unruly  as  to  the 
wise  regulations  of  society.  The  sons  of  Eli  and  David's 
son  Absolem  are  conspicuous  examples.  Considering  some 
of  the  family  relations  of  David  it  is  no  wonder  that  some 
of  his  sons  were  unruly  and  wicked. 

John  Ruskin  wrote,  "Every  day  I  am  more  sure  of  the 
mistake  made  by  good  people  universally  in  trj^ing  to  pull 
fallen  people  up  instead  of  keeping  the  yet  safe  ones  from 
tumbling  after  them;  and  in  always  spending  their  pains 
on  the  worst  instead  of  on  the  best  material."  As  it  is 
more  easy  and  more  profitable  to  train  colts  than  it  is 
to  BREAK  OLD  HORSES  of  bad  tricks,  so  it  is  more  easy  and 
more  profitable  to  form  right  characters  in  children  than 
it  is  to  REFORM  those  who  have  become  morally  deformed. 
The  last  words  of  the  Old  Testament  are,  "He  shall 
turn  the  heart  of  the  fathers  to  the  children,  and  the 
heart  of  the  children  to  their  fathers;  lest  I  come  and 
smite  the  earth  with  a  curse."  And  surely  there  is  need 
for  more  parental  attention  being  given  to  the  children 

41 


42     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

of  our  day.  When  in  addition  to  providing  them  with 
proper  food,  clothes,  schools  and  recreation,  fathers  and 
mothers  have  their  children  occupy  the  family  pew  with 
them  at  public  worship  and  religious  instruction,  and 
when  they  lovingly  and  prayerfully  oversee  them  every- 
where, nobody  else  w^ill  have  much  trouble  with  them ;  for 
they  will  know  too  much  to  be  unruly.  But  to  neglect 
such  parental  example  and  oversight  is  a  very  great  and 
inexcusable  wrong  to  childhood,  and  it  puts  a  needless 
burden  upon  the  christian  workers  in  the  Sunday  School 
and  elsewhere,  and  it  is  likely  to  give  the  civil  government 
trouble  with  them  in  all  of  the  complex  relations  of 
society  where  they  mingle  from  childhood  to  age. 

A  few  years  ago  at  a  party  composed  of  ladies  and 
gentlemen  among  whom  I  had  a  place,  part  of  the  enter- 
tainment was  making  pencil  pictures  which  illustrated  the 
titles  of  books,  and  then  having  others  guess  the  books  by 
looking  at  those  sketches.  One  woman  who  had  six  sons 
who  she  was  anxious  should  grow  up  free  from  the 
tobacco  habit  in  spite  of  the  wrong  example  of  her  hus- 
band, drew  a  sketch  of  a  man  making  long  strides  through 
a  forest  in  the  deep  snow,  smoking  a  cigar  as  he  went; 
and  after  him  was  following  a  big  boy  who  was  trying 
hard  to  step  in  his  father's  tracks,  and  he  too  was  smok- 
ing a  cigar  in  imitation  of  his  father.  It  was  easy  to 
guess  Dr.  Sheldon's  book  "In  His  Steps,"  so  well  illus- 
trated. A  boy's  GOLDEN  RULE  is  not  the  one  his  mother 
and  the  teacher  try  to  impress  upon  his  mind,  but  rather 
one  which  he  puts  into  practice  rather  than  into  words, 
"All  things  which  i  see  my  father  do,  that  is  what 
I  WANT  TO  DO."    That  is  why  the  man's  use  of  tobacco 


Seven  Messages  43 

is  not  a  tiling  of  doubtful  propriety  but  of  undoubted 
IMPROPRIETY,  as  we  may  see  from  the  following  words 
of  men  worthy  of  attention. 

Edison  said,  "I  employ  no  person  who  smokes  cigarettes. 
The  acrolein  in  them  has  a  violent  action  on  the  nerve 
centers,  producing  degeneration  of  the  cells  of  the  brain, 
which  is  quite  rapid  among  boys."  Luther  Burbank  said, 
"No  boy  living  would  commence  the  use  of  cigarettes  if 
he  knew  what  a  useless,  soulless,  worthless  thing  it  would 
make  of  him."  The  famous  ball-player  Ty  Cobb  said, 
"Too  much  cannot  be  said  against  the  evils  of  cigarette 
smoking.  No  boy  who  hopes  to  be  successful  in  any  line 
can  afford  to  contract  a  habit  that  is  so  destructive  of  his 
physical  and  moral  development."  Judge  Lindsay  said, 
"One  of  the  very  w^orst  habits  of  boyhood  is  the  cigarette 
habit.  This  has  long  been  recognized  by  all  judges  of  the 
courts  who  deal  with  young  criminals.  The  cigarette 
habit  not  only  gets  a  grip  upon  them  in  boyhood  but  it 
invites  all  other  demons  of  habit  to  come  in  and 
add  to  the  degeneration  that  the  cigarette  began."  It  is 
well  said  that  the  cigarette  adds  to  the  nervous  troubles 
of  a  boy,  subtracts  from  his  energ}',  multiplies  his  aches, 
divides  his  mental  powers,  takes  interest  from  his  work, 
and  discounts  his  prospects  of  success.  Professor  Moran 
of  Michigan  University  says,  "During  my  experience, 
covering  nearly  the  third  of  a  centun ,  I  have  yet  to  dis- 
cover, among  the  thousands  of  young  men  whom  I  have 
had  in  my  classes,  a  single  instance  where  a  young  man 
who  became  a  slave  to  the  cigarette  habit  in  his  early  years 
has  ever  been  able  to  develop  into  more  than  a  third  or 
a  fourth  rate  stenographer.    If  this  be  true  in  the  develop- 


44     True  Christian,  True  Ghurch,  True  Teachings 

ment  of  short-hand  ability,  it  undoubtedly  is  true  in  every 
other  kind  of  work  where  steady  nerves,  clear  minds,  and 
physical  skill  are  required."  These  things  account  for 
the  fact  that  the  Cadillac  Motor  Car  Co.  posted  around 
their  plant,  "We  will  not  hire  anyone  whom  we  know 
to  be  addicted  to  the  cigarette  habit."  The  Marshall  Field 
Co.  said,  "It  has  been  our  policy  not  to  engage  boys  who 
make  a  practice  of  smoking  cigarettes,  as  we  believe  it  to 
be  detrimental  to  their  development."  The  John  Wana- 
maker  Co.  and  many  others  do  practically  the  same  thing, 
and  all  agree  that  "the  cigarette  lowers  the  morals,  stunts 
the  body,  weakens  and  vitiates  the  mind,  stains  the  char- 
acter as  surely  as  it  does  the  fingers,  and  leads  to  other  evil 
habits."  Henry  Ford  is  undoubtedly  the  most  famous 
man  of  afifairs  who  has  determined  to  do  all  he  reasonably 
can  to  stamp  out  the  use  of  what  he  calls  "the  little  white 
slaver,"  and  in  his  great  automobile  plant  they  are  pro- 
hibited altogether. 

With  these  facts  confronting  us,  what  is  the  obvious 
duty  of  every  christian  man,  and  what  is  the  manifest 
duty  of  fathers?  The  home  is  the  most  numerous  and  the 
greatest  school  on  earth,  the  mother  should  be  the  most 
influential  teacher  on  earth,  and  the  father  should  be  the 
best  example  on  earth.  A  company  of  men  were  discuss- 
ing the  sweeping  gains  for  prohibition  in  the  country,  and 
one  of  them  remarked  that  he  occasionally  took  a  glass, 
but  that  he  had  a  son  growing  up  and  that  he  must  be- 
come an  abstainer  for  an  example  to  his  son.  Oh  man, 
you  are  always  an  example  for  good  or  evil  to  your  own 
or  to  some  one's  son;  and  he  whose  Name  we  bare  said, 
"Whosoever  shall  cause  to  stumble  one  of  these  little  ones 


Seven  Messages  45 

which  believe  in  me,  it  were  better  for  him  that  a  mill- 
stone were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and  that  he  should  be 
drowned  in  the  depth  of  the  sea."     The  poet  wrote, 

"  'Twas  a  sheep,  not  a  lamb,  that  wandered  away 

In  the  parable  Jesus  told, 

A  grown  up  sheep  that  had  gone  astray 

From  the  ninety  and  nine  in  the  fold. 
And  for  the  sheep  should  we  earnestly  look, 
And  as  earnestly  pray; 
Because  there  is  danger,  if  they  go  wrong, 
They  will  lead  the  young  lambs  away. 

For  the  lambs  will  follow  the  sheep,  you  know, 

Wherever  the  sheep  may  stray; 

If  the  sheep  go  wrong,  it  will  not  be  long, 

Till  the  lambs  are  as  wrong  as  they. 
And  so  with  the  sheep  we  earnestly  plead. 
For  the  sake  of  the  lambs  today ; 
For  if  the  lambs  are  lost,  what  a  terrible  cost, 
Some  sheep  will  have  to  pay." 

There  is  great  need  these  days  for  a  revival  of  fathers 
taking  their  proper  places  in  the  home  and  in  the  church, 
and  by  precept  and  by  example  assisting  the  mother  and 
the  christian  workers  to  lead  the  boys  and  young  men 
aright.  Most  of  the  people  in  the  church  are  women  we 
admit,  but  this  does  not  cause  a  humiliating  blush  like 
the  admission  that  most  of  the  people  in  the  penitentiaries 
and  prisons  are  men.  Manly  men  ought  to  come  for- 
ward and  patriotically  help  to  make  the  church  all  it 
should  be  in  many-sided  helpfulness.     Were  the  twelve 


46     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

apostles  women  or  men?  And  was  it  to  women  onl.v  or 
even  chiefly  that  Jesus  said,  "Go  ye  therefore,  and  make 
disciples  of  all  the  nations?"  (Matt.  28:19).  The  only 
w^ay  to  rid  the  world  of  the  unruly  boys  and  of  the  other 
people  who  cause  trouble,  is  to  lead  them  to  Jesus  Christ 
who  will  help  them  to  become  the  best  kind  of  citizens 
in  all  the  varied  relations  to  their  fellows.  The  unjust 
Judge  who  FEARED  NOT  GOD  did  not  REGARD  the  rights 
of  men  and  women  (Luke  18:4)  ;  and  it  is  very  certain 
that  unless  the  youth  of  our  land  are  in  the  home  and  in 
the  processes  of  church  and  school  education  trained  to 
reverence  God  the  future  of  our  land  will  be  cursed  with 
a  generation  of  people  who  will  disregard  the  rights  and 
interests  of  their  fellows.  Being  a  christian  is  just  simply 
being  right  with  God  and  with  man  in  all  our  relations 
with  each  other;  and  this  is  the  old  commandment  to 
love  God  with  all  the  heart,  mind,  and  strength,  and  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself.  There  should  be  a  big  brother  and 
a  good  father  movement  every^vhere. 

Note. — The  quotations  on  cigarette  smoking  are  taken, 
by  special  permission  and  courtesy  from  Mr.  Henry  Ford's 
book  "The  Case  Against  the  Little  White  Slaver." 


VI 

Sense  vs.  Nonsense 

"By  thy  ivords  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy  words 
thou  shalt  be  eondenined."      (Matt.   12:37). 

IN  presenting  some  of  the  words  of  the  book  "Science 
and  Health  with  Key  to  the  Scriptures"  we  will  quote 
from  the  224th  edition,  and  you  can  pass  judgment  upon 
the  authoress  and  upon  her  ideas.  Some  people  will  con- 
sider her  the  greatest  of  women  and  her  book  as  contain- 
ing the  most  blessed  truths,  while  others  will  consider 
her  an  arch  deceiver  and  her  ideas  as  the  climax  of  most 
obvious  absurdities  which  is  miscalled  "Christian  Science," 
since  it  is  clearly  both  wholly  unscientific  and  plainly  un- 
christian. 

In  Mrs.  Mary  Baker  Glover  Patterson  Edd> 's  book 
page  453  we  read,  "A  christian  scientist  requires  my  work 
on  Science  and  Health  for  his  text  book,  and  so  do  all 
his  students  and  patients.  Why?  First,  because  it  is 
the  voice  of  Truth  to  this  age,  and  contains  the  whole 
of  Christian  Science,  or  the  science  of  healing  through 
mind."  So  it  is  reasonable  for  us  to  accept  or  to  reject 
christian  science  according  to  whether  we  find  the  words 
of  the  book  to  be  sense  or  nonsense :  and  it  ought  not  to  be 
difficult  for  a  sane  person  to  make  decision  rather  promptly. 

On  page  seven  we  read  what  she  says  are  the  funda- 
mental and  "selfevident  iM(*p:)sitions  which  will  agree  in 

47 


48     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

statement  and  proof  even  if  read  backward."  i.  *'God, 
Spirit,  being  all,  nothing  is  matter."  2.  ''Life,  God, 
Omnipotent  good,  deny  death,  evil,  sin,  disease."  She 
teaches  that  God  is  all  that  really  exists  and  that  what 
we  call  material  th'mgs  are  only  reflections  of  God  who 
is  the  only  reality.  On  page  19  she  says,  "Man  beholds 
himself  God's  reflection,  even  as  man  sees  his  face  in  the 
glass."  "Man  seems  to  himself  substance,  but  man  is 
IMAGE."  Page  197.  Of  course  if  Mrs.  Eddy's  idea  on 
which  her  teachings  are  founded  be  correct,  then  all  other 
teachings  founded  on  the  idea  of  the  reality  of  the  physical 
world  and  man  as  things  or  beings  other  than  God  are 
such  stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of.  But  if  the  first  state- 
ment of  the  Bible  be  correct,  "In  the  beginning  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,"  and  if  the  material 
world  and  man  are  real  existences  and  are  not  God,  then 
Mrs.  Eddy  has  given  us  a  dreamland  philosophy  which 
is  contradicted  by  the  common  sense  of  all  men  and  by 
the  testimony  of  physical  sensation  which  is  our  only 
medium  of  contact  with  the  world  around  us. 

Of  course  there  can  be  no  agreement  between  the  two 
ways  of  contradictory  thinking;  and  the  adherents  of 
each  must  of  necessity  look  upon  the  others  as  you  look 
upon  men  walking  in  their  sleep.  The  ordinary  human 
being  lives  and  speaks  in  harmony  with  the  ordinary 
way  of  thinking  about  God,  the  universe  and  man;  and 
in  the  practical  affairs  of  life  Mrs.  Eddy  spoke  and  acted 
as  other  people  do  but  utterly  out  of  harmony  with  the 
teachings  of  her  book. 

One  way  to  test  the  truthfulness  of  ideas  is  to  try  to 
i?ut  them  into  practice,  and  so  we  will  open  Mrs.  Eddy's 


Seven  Messages  49 

book  to  page  No.  383  where  we  read,  "If  exposure  to  a 
draught  of  air  while  in  a  state  of  perspiration,  is  followed 
by  chills,  dry  cough,  influenza,  congestive  symptoms  in 
the  lungs,  or  hints  of  inflammatory  rheumatism,  your  mind 
remedy  is  safe  and  sure.  If  you  are  a  christian  scientist, 
such  symptoms  will  not  follow  from  exposure.  .  .  . 
This  is  an  established  fact  in  science  which  all  the 

EVIDENCE    BEFORE    SENSES    CAN    NEVER    OVERRULE."     On 

page  385  she  says,  "While  mortals  declare  that  certain 
states  of  the  atmosphere  produce  catarrh,  fever,  rheuma- 
tism, or  consumption,  those  effects  will  follow,  not  be- 
cause of  the  climate,  but  on  account  of  the  belief."  That 
surely  is  interesting  in  cold  climates  where  people  have 
supposed  that  exposure,  insufficient  clothing,  poor  houses, 
and  scarcity  of  expensive  fuel  were  dangerous  to  health. 
On  page  116  she  says,  "Colds,  coughs,  and  contagion  are 
engendered  solely  by  mortal  belief." 

Slum-dwellers  in  oriental  cities  where  the  decimating 
plagues  have  originated  should  sit  up  and  take  notice  of 
what  she  says  on  page  381,  "If  half  the  attention  given 
to  hygiene  were  given  to  the  study  of  christian  science  and 
its  elevation  of  thought,  this  alone  would  usher  in  the 
millenium.  Bathing  and  rubbing  to  alter  the  secretions 
or  to  remove  unhealthy  exhalations  from  tlie  cuticle,  re- 
ceive a  useful  rebuke  from  christian  healing.  .  .  . 
He  who  is  ignorant  of  what  is  termed  hygienic  law  is 
more  receptive  to  spiritual  power  than  the  devotee  to  this 
SUPPOSED  law."  On  page  388  she  says,  "The  less  we 
know  or  think  about  hygiene  the  less  we  are  disposed  to 
sickness.  Recollect,  it  is  not  the  body  but  mortal  mind 
which   reports  food   as  undigested."     On   page  387   she 


50     True  Christian  J  True  Church  j  True  Teachings 

says,  "The  fact  is  food  does  not  affect  the  real  existence 
of  man,  but  it  would  be  foolish  to  venture  beyond  our 
present  understanding,  foolish  to  stop  eating  until  we 
gain  more  goodness."  On  page  384  she  says,  "You  say 
or  think  because  you  have  partaken  of  salt  fish  that  you 
must  be  thirsty;  and  you  are  thirsty  accordingly:  while 
the  opposite  belief  would  produce  the  opposite  result." 
If  this  be  true,  is  it  not  possible  that  a  poor  workman 
might  avoid  embarrassment  from  high  prices  by  eating 
snow  and  thinking  he  had  been  fed  on  the  fat  of  the 
land? 

On  page  51  she  says,  "Mortal  mind  confers  the  only 
power  a  drug  can  ever  have,"  and  she  says  on  page 
70,  "If  a  dose  of  poison  is  swallowed  through  mistake 
and  the  patient  dies,  even  though  physician  and  patient 
are  expecting  favorable  results,  does  belief  cause  this 
death?  Even  so,  and  as  directly  as  if  the  poison  had 
been  taken  intentionally.  In  such  cases  a  few  persons 
believe  the  poison  swallowed  by  the  patient  to  be  harm- 
less, but  the  vast  majority  of  mankind  though  they  know 
nothing  of  this  particular  case  and  of  this  special  person, 
believe  the  arsenic  to  be  poisonous,  for  it  has  been 
set  down  as  a  poison  by  mortal  mind.  The  conse- 
quence is  that  the  result  is  controlled  by  the  major- 
ity of  opinions  outside,  not  by  the  infinitesimal  minor- 
ity of  OPINIONS  in  the  sick  chamber."  Now  if  this  ht 
true,  no  doubt  when  a  majority  of  people  have  chris- 
tian science  opinions,  the  bite  of  dogs  affected  with  the 
hydrophobia,  and  the  bite  of  rattle  snakes  will  be  harm- 
less; and  Paris  green,  rat  poison,  and  insect  powder  will 
fatten  vermin,  flies,  and  potato  bugs.     Then  strychniae 


Seven  Messages  51 

will  make  as  good  a  beverage  as  coffee,  nitric  or  carbolic 
acid  will  be  good  bathing  fluids,  and  all  drugs  will  be 
harmless ! 

What  easy  disposition  she  makes  of  boils,  burns,  and 
accidents  which  afliict  other  people !  On  page  46  she  says, 
"You  say  a  boil  is  painful,  but  that  is  impossible  for 
matter  without  mind  is  not  painful.  The  boil  simply 
manifests  your  belief  in  pain,  through  inflamation  and 
swelling,  and  you  call  this  belief  a  boil.  Now  admin- 
ister mentally  to  your  patient  a  high  attenuation  of 
truth  on  the  subject,  and  it  will  soon  cure  the  boil."  I 
have  known  christian  scientists  to  suffer  with  felons,  and 
whoever  has  had  such  things  will  know  how  to  think  of 
the  above  words.  On  page  54  she  says,  "You  say  I  have 
burned  my  finger.  This  is  an  exact  statement,  more  ex- 
act than  you  suppose,  for  mortal  mind  and  not  matter 
burns  it.  Holy  inspiration  has  created  states  of  mind 
which  are  able  to  nullify  the  action  of  the  flames.     .     . 

.  while  an  opposite  state  of  mind  might  produce  spon- 
taneous combustion."  On  page  396  she  says,  "When 
an  accident  happens  you  think  or  exclaim,  I  am  hurt !  Your 
thought  is  more  powerful  than  your  words,  more  pow- 
erful than  the  accident  itself  to  make  the  injury  real. 
Now  reverse  the  process.  Declare  you  are  not  hurt, 
and  understand  the  reason  why,  and  you  will  find  the 
ensuing  good  effects  to  be  in  exact  proportion  to  your 
disbelief  in  physics."  If  this  were  true  it  would  help 
out  considerably  when  a  battleship  is  blown  up,  when 
there  is  an  an  explosion  in  a  coal  mine,  when  a 
twenty  mile  gun  bombards  a  fort,  when  a  skyscraper  col- 
lapses, when  a  Titanic  strikes  an  iceberg,  when  an  over- 


52     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

crowded  boat  is  burned  or  sinks,  when  two  fast  trains 
come  together  head  on,  or  when  an  earthquake  shakes 
down  a  city;  but  if  there  is  no  truth  in  it,  what  about 
christian  science,  the  whole  of  which  is  contained  in  this 
book?  To  declare  you  are  not  hurt  when  you  are  hurt 
is  to  prove  yourself  a  falsifier  or  insane. 

On  page  384  she  says,  ** Unremitting  toil,  deprivation, 
exposure,  and  all  untoward  conditions,  if  without  sin,  can 
be  RELIEVED  without  SUFFERING.  If  you  sprain  the  mus- 
cles or  wound  the  flesh,  5^our  remedy  is  at  hand.  Mind 
decides  whether  or  not  the  flesh  shall  be  discolored,  pain- 
ful, swollen  and  inflamed."  On  page  392  she  says, 
"Have  no  fear  that  matter  can  ache,  swell,  and  be  in- 
flamed from  a  law  of  any  kind  when  it  is  self-evident 
that  matter  can  have  no  pain  or  inflamation."  How  care- 
ful all  her  life  was  Mrs.  Eddy  to  let  the  other  fellow  have 
the  unremitting  toil  and  exposure  to  injury!  What  can 
an  exposed  and  poorly  paid  workman  think  of  such  talk 
from  one  who  never  worked  but  who  accumulated  mil- 
lions from  the  toil  of  others  who  worked  and  suffered? 
On  page  114  she  says,  "You  would  not  say  that  a  wheel  is 
fatigued,  and  yet  the  body  is  just  as  material  as  the  wheel. 
If  it  were  not  for  what  the  human  mind  says  of  the  body, 
the  body  would  never  be  weary  any  more  than  the  in- 
animate wheel.  An  understanding  of  this  great  fact 
rests  you  more  than  hours  of  repose."  Yet  Mrs.  Ed- 
dy had  more  than  her  share  of  repose,  and  such  talk  from 
a  rich  woman  who  feels  no  more  sympathy  for  the  toil- 
ers than  she  does  for  wheels  in  the  shops,  makes  all 
sensible  people  tired. 

On  page  298  she  makes  an  admission  which  ought  to 


Seven  Messages  53 

condemn  the  whole  fabric  of  her  obvious  absurdities, 
"The  physical  senses  and  christian  science  have  ever 
BEEN  ANTAGOXiSTic,  and  they  will  so  continue  till  the 
testimony  of  the  physical  senses  yields  to  christian  sci- 
ence." Has  God  given  us  our  five  senses  to  deceive  us? 
Imagine  how  we  could  get  along  without  seeing,  hear- 
ing, SMELLING,  TASTING,  FEELING;  and  she  admits  that 
these  God-given  senses  are  opposed  to  the  teachings  of 
christian  science.  On  page  47  she  says  some  things  about 
contagious  disease,  "We  have  smallpox  because  others 
have  it,  but  mortal  mind  and  not  matter  contains  and 
carries  the  infection."  Think  of  such  insane  non- 
sense in  the  face  of  the  facts  of  typhoid,  diphtheria, 
measles,  infantile  paralysis,  yellow  fever,  bubonic  plague, 
and  smallpox  which  the  microscope  has  brought  to  the 
knowledge  of  all  reading  people!  But  no  absurdities  are 
too  glaring  for  her  assertion  or  too  much  out  of  harmony 
with  the  facts  of  life  to  prevent  her  from  affirming  them, 
as  we  see  on  page  95  where  she  says,  "Not  because  of 
muscular  exercise,  but  by  reason  of  the  blacksmith's  faith 
in  muscle  his  arm  becomes  stronger.  The  hammer  is 
not  increased  in  size  by  exercise  because  mortal  mind 

IS  NOT  WILLING  THAT  RESULT  ON  THE   HAMMER."      But 

what  sane  person  thinks  that  if  mortal  mind  should  will 
that  the  hammer  increase  in  size,  it  would,  because  of 
that,  increase? 

Could  ignorance  and  folly  reach  a  climax  worse  than 
we  find  on  page  374?  "Palsy  is  a  belief  that  matter 
attacks  mortals,  and  paralyzes  the  body,  making  certain 
portions  of  it  motionless.  Destroy  the  belief,  show 
mortal  mind  that  muscles  have  no  power  to  be  lost, 


54     True  Christia?i,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

for  mind  is  supreme,  and  you  will  cure  the  palsy."  On 
page  389  we  read,  "When  the  first  symptoms  of  disease 
appear,  dispute  the  testimony  of  the  senses  by  di- 
vine science."  On  page  423  she  says,  "If  the  lungs  are 
disappearing,  this  is  but  one  of  the  beliefs  of  mortal 
mind.  Mortal  man  will  be  less  mortal  when  he  learns 
that  LUNGS  NEVER  SUSTAINED  existence."  But  most 
people  need  lungs  yet,  and  such  talk  ought  to  deceive  no 
one.  On  page  407  she  gives  some  pointers  to  surgeons, 
"A  dislocation  of  the  tarsal  joint  would  produce  insanity 
as  perceptible  as  that  produced  by  congestion  of  the  brain, 
were  it  not  that  mortal  mind  thinks  this  joint  less  in- 
timately connected  with  the  mind  than  is  the  brain." 
Under  the  head  of  obstetrics  on  page  459  she  says, 
"When  this  new^  birth  takes  places  the  christian  science 
infant  is  born  of  the  Spirit  and  can  cause  the  mother 
no  more  suffering."    What  monstrous  untruth! 

But  it  is  when  she  talks  of  things  connected  with  the 
Bible  that  she  shows  the  grossest  ignorance  and  most 
abandoned  untruthfulness.  In  John  11:14-39  and  44 
we  read,  "Jesus  therefore  said  unto  them  plainly,  Lazarus 
IS  DEAD.  .  .  .  Martha  the  sister  of  him  that  was 
DEAD,  saith  unto  him.  Lord,  by  this  time  the  body  de- 
CAYETH,  for  he  hath  been  dead  four  davs.  .  .  .  Jesus 
cried  with  a  loud  voice,  Lazarus,  come  forth.  He  that 
was  DEAD  came  forth,  bound  hand  and  foot  with  grave- 
clothes." 

Four  times  it  says  plainly  that  Lazarus  was  dead; 
but  Mrs.  Eddy  on  page  241  says,  "Jesus  restored  Lazarus 
by  the  understanding  that  he  had  never  died,  not  by  an 
admission  that  his  body  had  died  and  then  lived  again. 


Seven  Messages  55 

When  you  can  awaken  yourself  and  others  out  of  the 
BELIEF  THAT  ALL  MUST  uiK,  yoii  can  then  exercise  Jesus' 
spiritual  power  to  rhprouuce  thi-:  pri:si:xce  of  those 
who  THOUGHT  THKY  HAD  Dii-D."  On  page  349  she  says, 
"His  disciples  Bi':LinvKD  Jesus  dhad  while  he  was  hidden 
in  tlie  Sepulchre,  whereas  he  was  alive,  demonstrating 
within  the  narrow  tomb  the  power  of  spirit  to  destroy 
human  sense."  On  page  351  she  says,  "Jesus'  students 
saw  him  after  his  cruciiixion,  and  learned  that  he  had 
NOT  DIED."  But  Jesus  himself  said,  "1  am  the  first  and 
the  last,  and  the  Living  One ;  and  I  was  dead,  and  be- 
hold, 1  am  alive  for  evermore."    (  R.  V.  Rev.  i  :i8). 

Mrs.  Eddy  flagrantly  insults  all  human  sense,  she  is 
antagonistic  to  all  real  science  as  all  people  of  learning 
know,  and  she  does  not  scruple  to  contradict  jesus. 
She  uses  scientific  words  with  unscientific  meanings  and 
she  distorts  Scripture  from  all  semblance  of  its  meaning; 
and  her  teachings  are  not  only  unbiblical  but  they  are 
manifestly  antichristian  in  many  places.  Her  book  is  a 
disorderly  jumble  of  untruth  with  some  things  that  are 
true  and  which  intelligent  people  have  long  known ;  but 
that  it  has  had  such  a  phenomenal  sale  and  is  by  many 
reversed  like  the  Bible  is  a  sad  commentary  upon  the 
rational  powers  of  its  adherents.  The  sale  of  it  has  given 
a  mint  of  wealth,  and  a  bank  account  is  no  dreamy  un- 
reality to  her  followers. 

The  fact  that  many  good  people  have  been  deceived  into 
accepting  this  mist  of  darkness  is  no  more  wonderful  than 
that  many  equally  as  good  people  have  accepted  the  Mor- 
mon system  which  is  a  sort  of  moral  cancer-planter  in 
our  nation.     Most  people  who  call  themselves  christian 


56     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

scientists  have  embraced  it  simply  because  they  have  been 
led  to  believe  that  it  is  a  good  system  of  healing  disease, 
and  they  have  no  knowledge  of  its  unphilosophical  and 
unscientific  errors.  Everybody  would  be  most  happy  if 
they  could  do  the  works  of  healing  which  they  claim,  even 
as  we  are  elated  over  the  marvelous  achievements  of  mod- 
ern surgery.  We  would  not  persecute  them  for  their 
gullibility  any  more  than  we  would  throw  stones  at  a 
blind  man  off  of  the  path,  nor  would  we  follow  one  any 
more  than  the  other. 

Once  in  disapproval  of  an  evil  or  ignorant  jury  Lincoln 
said  that  there  is  one  thing  that  God  cannot  understand, 
and  that  is  how  the  minds  of  some  jurymen  operate.  I 
confess  that  I  am  unable  to  understand  how  any  one 
who  has  a  rational  faculty  to  operate  can  let  it  get  side- 
tracked to  this  most  insane  fad  of  modern  times,  and  which 
is  so  clearly  both  unchristian  and  unscientific. 


VII 

The  Great  Memorial  Supper 

Ex.   1 2th  Chapter 

JESUS  and  his  twelve  apostles  formed  a  family  group 
about  the  table  as  they  kept  the  passover.  The  origin 
of  this  annual  feast  is  told  in  the  Scriptures  thus,  "In 
the  tenth  day  of  this  month  they  shall  take  to  them  every 
man  a  lamb,  according  to  their  fathers'  houses,  a  lamb 
for  a  household.  (V.  3).  And  they  shall  take  of  the 
blood,  and  put  it  on  the  two  side  posts  and  on  the  lintel, 
upon  the  houses  where  they  shall  eat  it.  And  they  shall 
eat  the  flesh  in  that  night,  roast  with  fire,  and  unleavened 
bread;  with  bitter  herbs  they  shall  eat  it.  (Vs.  7,  8). 
And  thus  shall  they  eat  it:  with  your  loins  girded,  your 
shoes  on  your  feet,  and  your  staff  in  your  hand ;  and  ye 
shall  eat  it  in  haste:  it  is  Jehovah's  passover.  For  I  will 
go  through  the  land  of  Egypt  in  that  night,  and  I  will 
smite  all  the  first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  both  man 
and  beast;  and  against  all  the  gods  of  Egypt  will  I  execute 
judgment:  i  am  Jehovah.  And  the  blood  sliall  be  to  you 
for  a  token  upon  the  houses  where  \e  are:  and  when  1 
see  the  blood,  I  will  pass  over  you,  and  there  shall  be  no 
plague  upon  you  to  destroy  you,  when  I  smite  the  land 
of  Egypt.  And  this  day  shall  be  unto  you  for  a  memorial, 
and  ye  shall  keep  it  a  feast  to  Jehovah:  throughout  your 
generations  shall  ye  keep  it  a  feast  by  an  ordinance  for- 
ever. (Vs.  II -1 4).  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when 
your  children  shall  say  unto  you.  What  mean  ye  by  this 

57 


58      True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

service?  that  ye  shall  say,  it  is  the  sacrifice  of  Je- 
hovah's PASSOVER,  who  passed  over  the  houses  of  the 
children  of  Israel  in  Egypt,  when  he  smote  the  Egyptians, 
and  delivered  our  houses."     (Ex.  12:26-27). 

For  1,400  years  they  had  kept  this  feast  in  remem- 
brance of  what  God  did  for  their  ancestors  when  he  de- 
livered them  from  Egyptian  bondage;  but  Jesus  in- 
structed the  apostles  that  thereafter  his  followers  should 
keep  a  feast  in  remembrance  of  himself  as  the  true 
paschal  Lamb  of  God  who  delivers  from  the  bondage  of 
sin  as  well  as  from  its  guilt  and  defilement.  At  this  last 
passover  which  Jesus  observed  with  his  disciples  shortly 
before  his  crucifixion,  instead  of  saying  the  customary 
words  which  pointed  backward  to  the  deliverance  from 
Egypt,  he  said  some  new  words  which  pointed  forward 
to  the  greater  deliverance  which  he  was  to  give  to  his 
believing  people. 

Luke  22:14-20,  and  Matt.  26:26-29,  and  Mark  14:22- 
25,  all  give  substantially  the  same  account  of  the  institu- 
tion of  the  Lord's  Supper  at  this  last  passover  supper  im- 
mediately before  his  death.  "And  when  the  hour  was 
come,  he  sat  down,  and  the  apostles  with  him.  And 
he  said  unto  them,  with  desire  I  have  desired  to  eat  this 
passover  with  you  before  I  suffer:  for  I  say  unto  you,  I 
shall  not  eat  it,  until  it  be  fulfilled  in  the  kingdom  of 
God.  And  he  received  a  cup,  and  when  he  had  given 
thanks,  he  said,  Take  this,  and  divide  it  among  yourselves : 
for  I  say  unto  you,  I  shall  not  drink  from  henceforth  of 
the  fruit  of  the  vine,  until  the  kingdom  of  God  shall 
come.  And  he  took  bread,  and  when  he  had  given 
thanks,  he  break  it,  and  gave  to  them,  saying.  This  is 


SevcJi  Messages  59 

MY  body  which  is  j^iven  for  you:  this  do  in  ri:mi:.mrranci: 
of  ME.  And  the  cup  in  like  manner  after  supper,  sayinp:, 
This  cup  IS  THE  NEW  Covenant  in  xMV  blood,  even  that 
which  is  poured  out  for  you."  "And  as  they  were  eat- 
ing, Jesus  took  BREAD,  and  blessed,  and  break  it:  and  he 
gave  to  the  disciples,  and  said.  Take,  eat;  this  is  My 
body.  And  he  took  a  cup,  and  gave  thanks,  and  gave 
to  them,  saying.  Drink  ye  all  of  it;  for  this  is  my  blood 
of  the  covenant,  which  is  poured  out  for  many  unto  the 
remission  of  sins.  But  I  say  unto  you,  I  shall  not  drink 
henceforth  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  until  that  day  when 
1  drink  it  new  with  you  in  my  Father's  kingdom."  Paul 
gives  substantially  the  same  account  in  i  Cor.  1 1  :23-26. 
These  are  the  only  places  where  the  Lord's  Supper  is  men- 
tioned ;  and  it  is  significant  that  in  no  place  is  the  word 
WINE  used  in  connection  with  this  rite  of  the  church,  but 
the  word  "cup"  or  "fruit  of  the  vine"  is  used  in  every 
case.  And  right-thinking  people  understand  that  it  is 
very  unseemly  to  use  intoxicating  wine  in  this  holy  me- 
morial of  our  Lord  who  represents  all  that  is  beneficial 
to  man,  whereas  such  wine  is  by  enlightened  men  looked 
upon  as  a  symbol  of  misery,  impurity,  corruption  and 
death. 

The  OLD  covenant  which  God  made  with  the  believing 
and  obedient  people  in  Egvpt  was  sealed  in  the  blood  of  the 
slain  passover  lamb;  but  the  new  covenant  which  God 
makes  with  his  believing  and  obedient  people  is  sealed  in 
the  blood  of  the  lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin 
of  the  world,  even  his  who  gave  himself  for  us.  the  just 
for  the  unjust.  The  Jew  kept  the  feast  in  remembrance 
of  the  passover  the  blood  of  which  was  the  token  to  the 


6o     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teachings 

death  angel  not  to  slay  the  first-born  in  the  houses  where 
they  had  proclaimed  their  faith  and  obedience  by  sprink- 
ling the  blood  of  the  lamb  as  ordered ;  but  the  greater  re- 
demption through  the  blood,  or  atoning  life  and  death 
of  Jesus  Christ  was  to  have  as  its  memorial  the  Lord's 
Supper:  and  so  Jesus  said,  "This  do  in  remembrance 
of  ME."  The  Jew  alone  was  specially  interested  in  the 
deliverance  from  Egypt  and  in  its  memorial;  but  all 
the  world  through  all  the  centuries  is  specially  interested 
in  the  work  of  Christ  and  in  the  memorial  which  he  in- 
stituted to  be  kept  by  his  friends  till  he  shall  come  in  tri- 
umph as  King  of  kings. 

Misunderstanding  the  meaning  of  Christ  has  led  the 
imaginations  of  erring  men  into  grossly  strange  doctrines 
which  would  have  seemed  repulsively  blasphemus  to  the 
apostles  of  Jesus.  For  instance,  James  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons in  his  book,  The  Faith  of  Our  Fathers,  on  page 
356  says,  "The  sacrifice  of  the  mass  is  the  consecration 
of  the  bread  and  wine  into  the  body  and  blood  of 
CHRIST,  and  the  oblation  (offering)  of  this  body  and 
BLOOD  to  God,  by  the  ministry  of  the  priest!"  And  on 
page  365  he  says,  "If  the  wounds  of  the  martyrs  plead  so 
eloquently  for  us,  how  much  more  eloquent  is  the  blood 
OF  JESUS  SHED  DAILY  upon  our  altars?" 

Contrast  this  gross  teaching  with  the  truth  taught  by 
the  inspired  writer  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  "We  have  been 
sanctified  through  the  offering  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ 
once  for  all,"  or  once  for  final.  (Heb.  10:10).  Because 
his  work  was  never  completed  the  Jewish  priest  stood 
offering  daily  the  same  kind  of  sacrifices  which  could 
never  take  away  sin;  but  when  Jesus  had  offered  one 


Seven  Messages  6i 

SACRIFICE  for  sins  forever,  or  for  final,  or  for  allsuf- 
FiciENT,  he  SAT  DOWN  on  the  right  hand  of  God.  "For 
by  ONE  OFFERING  he  hath  perfected  forever  them  that 
are  sanctified."  (Heb.  10:11-14).  The  Jewish  priest 
STOOD  in  an  attitude  of  repetition  of  his  offerings  daily 
which  at  best  was  but  a  type  of  the  work  of  Christ  whose 
work  was  finished  or  completed  by  one  offering  of 
himself,  after  which  he  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of 
God  as  our  Prince  and  Saviour.     (Acts  2:33). 

This  idea  of  Christ's  once  giving  himself  for  us  being 
allsufficient  and  therefore  need  no  repetition,  and 
can  have  no  repetition,  is  made  very  plain  in  the  old 
rituals  of  the  communion  service,  such  as  the  following: 
"Almighty  God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
whose  once  offering  up  of  himself,  by  himself,  upon 
the  cross,  once  for  all,  we  commemorate  before  Thee ; 
we  beseech  thee  to  accept  this  our  spiritual  oblation  (of- 
fering) of  all  possible  praise  for  the  same."  Or  this, 
"Almighty  God,  our  heavenly  Father,  who  of  Thy  tender 
mercy  didst  give  thine  only  son  Jesus  Christ  to  suffer 
death  upon  the  cross  for  our  redemption;  who  made 
THERE  by  his  oblation  of  himself  once  offered,  a  full, 
perfect,  and  sufficient  sacrifice,  oblation,  and  satis- 
faction for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world ;  and  didst  insti- 
tute, and  in  his  hoh  gospel  command  us  to  continue,  a 
perpetual  memory  of  his  precious  death  until  his  coming 
again." 

This  sacred  Supper  is  an  abiding  memorial  of  Christ 
our  Saviour;  and  a  vivid  illustration  of  our  dependence 
upon  him  as  the  bread  of  life  for  our  spiritual  sus- 
tenance; and  an  opportunity  for  his  people  to  confess  him 


62      True  Christian,  True  Ciiurch,  True  Teachings 

upon  whose  atoning  merit  we  depend  for  salvation;  and 
a  common  acknowledgment  of  our  brotherhood  with  all 
who  sincerely  partake  of  this  memorial  of  their  Master; 
and  an  occasion  to  renew  our  profession  of  allegiance  to 
him  as  our  Lord,  once  crucified  but  now  risen  and  ex- 
alted, and  who  shall  come  again  in  glorious  triumph  as 
King  of  kings. 

Some  people  have  been  honestly  confused  because  Jesus 
is  reported  as  saying,  "This  is  my  body"  and  "This  is  my 
blood ;"  but  such  use  of  language  was  common  among  the 
Jews,  and  it  is  not  uncommon  among  all  people.  For 
instance,  in  Genesis  41 :26-27  we  read,  "The  seven  kine 
ARE  seven  years ;  and  the  seven  good  ears  are  seven 
years."  Although  everybody  knows  that  Joseph  went  on 
to  explain  that  these  seven  lean  kine  and  the  seven  blasted 
ears  w^hich  Pharaoh  saw  in  his  dream  symbolized  seven 
years  of  famine  which  were  about  to  come.  They  were 
not  seven  years  of  famine  but  they  represented  them  in 
this  vivid  pictorial  way,  just  as  the  elements  of  the  Holy 
Supper  represent  Christ. 

And  in  Daniel  7:17  we  read,  "These  great  beasts, 
which  are  four,  are  four  kings,  which  shall  arise  out  of 
the  earth ;"  but  it  is  manifest  that  in  his  vision  the  four 
beasts  symbolized  four  kings.  You  might  say,  "This 
is  my  birth-day,"  when  you  mean  that  it  is  the  anni- 
versary of  your  birth-day;  or  you  might  point  to  the 
stars  and  stripes  and  say,  "This  is  what  makes  us 
free  and  secure,"  when  you  mean  that  the  flag  is  the 
EMBLEM  of  our  government  which  is  a  free  republic. 
The  flag  is  only  colored  cloth,  but  as  an  emblem  it  has 
a  glorious  significance.     The  common  sense  of  all  men 


<:>cv('n  Messages  Oj 

whose  God-given  sight  and  taste  do  not  deceive  them 
declares  that  the  bread  and  the  wine  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
are  always  and  only  bread  and  wine ;  but  they  are  ex- 
pressive EMBLEMS  of  the  broken  bod>  and  of  the  shed 
blood  of  Christ  wliose  teachings,  example,  and  mediation 
with  God,  combine  to  mean  inexpressibl\  great  benefits 
to  the  world.  When  the  Jew  explained  to  his  children, 
"It  is  the  sacrifice  of  Jehovah's  passover,"  lie  meant  that 
it  is  the  MEMORIAL  of  that  passover;  and  just  so  when 
Jesus  said.  "This  is  my  bod\ ,"  we  understand  him  to  mean 
that  it  was  an  emblem  of  that  body,  and  that  we  should 
do  this  as  a  memorlal  of  him. 

You  remember  that  in  2  Samuel  23rd  chapter  (in 
Douay  it  is  2  Kings)  there  is  an  account  of  three  brave 
soldiers  rushing  through  the  hosts  of  the  Philistines  and 
bringing  David  a  drink  of  refreshing  water  from  the  well 
in  Bethlehem.  But  in  the  17th  verse  it  says  that  when 
they  handed  it  to  him  he  was  so  surprised  that  they 
would  have  dared  to  undertake  such  an  hazard  and  so 
grateful  for  their  devotion  to  him,  that  he  said,  "Shall 
1  drink  the  blood  of  the  men  who  went  in  jeopardy  of 
their  lives?"  This  water  was  not  the  blood  of  those 
loyal  soldiers,  but  it  represented  great  sacrifice  of  per- 
sonal safety  and  ease  on  the  part  of  those  braves;  and  it 
was  so  precious  to  him  that  he  would  not  drink  it,  but 
"poured  it  out  unto  Jehovah"  as  a  thank  offering. 

Just  so  the  bread  and  the  wine  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
vividly  remind  us  of  all  the  hazard,  pain,  trials,  and  sac- 
rifice of  our  Saviour — and  of  all  the  benefits  he  is  to  us — 
more  than  food  and  drink.  In  Ex.  8:19  we  read  that 
when  the  Magicians  of  Egypt  saw  how  Moses  surpassed 


64     True  Christian,  True  Church,  True  Teach 


ings 


them  in  wonders,  they  said,  ''this  is  the  finger  of 
god;"  but  everyone  knows  that  they  did  not  mean  literally 
that  the  finger  of  god  was  there.  They  meant  that 
God  was  working  on  the  side  of  the  Israelites.  Even  if 
the  literal  body  of  Christ  were  present  in  the  Roman 
mass,  who  would  want  to  eat  of  it?  That  idea  is  a 
crude  fiction  of  the  dark  ages  when  the  church  was  more 
pagan  than  christian. 

In  his  discourse  on  the  day  following  his  miraculous 
feeding  of  the  thousands,  Jesus  said,  "I  am  the  bread 
which  came  down  from  heaven;"  but  he  could  not  have 
meant  that  his  body  came  down  from  heaven.  (John 
6:41).  And  to  make  it  impossible  that  any  one  should 
get  that  idea  he  said  again,  "It  is  the  spirit  that  giveth 
life;  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing:  the  words  that  I  have 
spoken  unto  you  are  spirit,  and  are  life."     (John  6:63). 

BELIEVING    CHRIST,    COMING    TO    HIM,    and    EATING    HIM 

all  mean  the  same  thing;  for  they  all  alike  secure  salva- 
tion, as  we  see  from  his  words,  "He  that  eateth  me, 
he  also  shall  live  because  of  me."  (John  6:57).  "Him 
that  COMETH  TO  ME,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  (John 
6:37)-  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  be- 
LiEVETH  hath  eternal  life."  (John  6:47).  Thus  we  see 
that  the  mind  and  spirit  of  man  need  feeding  as  well  as 
the  body;  and  this  suggests  the  meaning  of  the  w^ords  of 
the  old  ritual  of  communion  "Feed  on  him  by  faith  in 
thine  heart." 

Probably  you  have  heard  some  one  say,  "I  just  feed 
on  music,"  or,  "I  simply  live  on  music;"  and  such  an 
one  will  become  cultured  in  that  art.  Another  may  say, 
"I.  have  been  feeding  on  the  biographies  of  renowned  mis- 


Seven  iMessayes  65 

sionaries  or  other  christian  worthies;"  and  such  an  one 
will  be  inspired  with  zeal  for  some  form  of  christian 
service.  Another  may  say,  "I  simply  devour  the  writ- 
ings and  speeches  of  patriotic  statesmen;"  and  such  an 
one  will  be  fired  with  devotion  to  his  country's  ideals  and 
welfare.  If  you  fehd  upon  temperance  literature  and 
enjoy  it,  you  will  certainly  never  become  a  debauchee. 

And  just  so,  and  no  more  miraculously,  if  you  come  to 
Jesus  as  the  Supreme  Teacher;  and  if  you  accept  him  as 
the  divine  Savior;  and  if  you  feed  your  mind  upon  his 
words;  and  if  you  surrender  your  will  to  him  as  your 
rightful  Lord;  and  if  you  pray  to  him  as  your  living 
Friend;  you  will  find  in  him  all  needed  spiritual  sup- 
plies: and  you  will  have  the  life  which  is  eternal  in  qual- 
ity— the  only  life  which  is  worthy  of  being  everlasting. 
Jesus  said  in  his  prayer,  "This  is  life  eternal,  that  they 
should  know  Thee  the  only  true  God,  and  him  whom 
Thou  didst  send,  even  Jesus  Christ."      (John   17:3). 

At  this  Holy  Supper  it  is  proper  that  we  do  not  forget 
our  sins,  and  we  might  appropriately  sing, 

"Was  it  for  crimes  that  I  have  done 
He  groaned  upon  the  tree? 
Amazing  pity,  grace  unknown. 
And  love  beyond  degree. 

Well  might  the  sun  in  darkness  hide, 

And  shut  His  glories  in, 
When  Christ,  the  mighty  Maker  died 

For  man  the  creature  sin. 


66     True  Christian,  True  Churchy  True  Teachinffs 

Thus  might  I  hide  my  blushing  face, 

While  his  dear  cross  appears, 
Dissolve  my  heart  in  thankfulness, 

And  melt  my  eyes  to  tears." 

But  this  is  not  a  memorial  of  our  sins,  else  it  were  a  very 
sad  occasion;  but  it  is  a  memorial  of  our  savior  who 
has  loved  us  in  spite  of  our  sins,  and  who  has  washed 
us  white  through  his  most  precious  sacrifice  of  himself 
for  us:  and  therefore  we  can  sit  at  this  feast  with  joy 
unspeakable.  Of  the  unnumbered  multitude  which  John 
saw  in  the  Revelations  it  was  said,  "These  are  they  that 
came  out  of  the  great  tribulation,  and  they  washed  their 
robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb." 
(Rev.  7:14). 


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